


Secret Place

by Tory (Ejes)



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Aqua is your mama, Enemies, Friendship, Nobody cares about Eraqus anyway, Stargazing, Terra is a sweetheart sometimes, Vanitas is the sass king, Ventus is a fluffball, opposite camps
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-23
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-02-19 05:31:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 27
Words: 28,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13117074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ejes/pseuds/Tory
Summary: He was from the Darkness, she, from the Light. But while on the battlefield they had to be enemies, fighting for their own beliefs, fighting for their own Masters, here, on this safe haven, they could pretend to be friends. They could ignore that stupid quarell that opposed their camps. They could just lie down and look up at the stars. And perhaps that's what mattered most.





	1. Nap

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Taliax](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taliax/gifts).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, this fic is dedicated to Taliax, for being so supportive and for making me love Vanitas so much.  
> Please go check her work, she is really talented and deserves your love and support.  
> She drew a cover for this fic, here it is: https://taliaxlatia.deviantart.com/art/Secret-Place-721820106  
> (I love it so much <3 <3 <3 )
> 
> And now, hello! This fic was meant to be a handful of drabbles, but it ended up being a whole big long story! I'm currently posting it on FFNet and decided to post it here as well. I won't post all the chapters in one go because that's a lot of work.
> 
> A bit of context : This is an AU, in which Master Xehanort did not corrupt Terra after the Test of Mastery. Terra was probably a bit angry at failing but hey, he's living with it now (which is a good reaction. Don't let failing something lead you to trust creepy old man and fall into darkness. I know what I'm talking about.). Therefore, Master Xehanort is still the bad guy with Vanitas 'working' for him and Eraqus is still the good... sorry no I can't say that I don't even believe in it, so Eraqus is still Eraqus and everything. They just are not in an open war or something, Xehanort made clear his plan was to forge the X-Blade... Eventually... Someday. And Vanitas really enjoys trying to hurt/kill/piss off our lovely trio of main characters. So both camp would fight upon bumping into each other but they wouldn't come to the Land of Departure/Keyblade Graveyard to kill everyone.
> 
> Hope you will like it!

In the Land of Departure, there was a special spot Aqua really enjoyed. It was close enough from the castle to retreat in case of rain, and yet far enough not to be bothered by the screams of the boys training. It was her secret place, a quiet clearing where she could lie down and read a book, meditate, or even just look at the sky.

However, she had the surprise that day to discover that someone was already there. Lying on the grass, curled into a ball, Vanitas had not noticed her yet. She called his name with a soft voice, startling him.

"What are you doing here? I don't remember seeing Master Xehanort around."

He clicked his tongue in annoyment. "I'm not his puppy. I can go wherever I want without him. Actually, I just wanted some peace, away from him. Did not expect anyone to come here in midday."

Aqua then noticed he was clutching his side. She was not fond of the boy, who would always try to pick fights with just anyone (and she was the only one clever enough to never answer to his provocations), but she did not hate him either.

"Are you hurt? Did... Did Master Xehanort do that to you?"

"Why would you care? I fought, I lost, the old man is angry and I left to stop hearing his annoying voice. End of the story."

"But why didn't you cure yourself?" When he remained silent, she sighed. "You never learnt how to use Cure, did you?" Another silence. She started wondering if he actually had fallen asleep – hard to tell with that helmet. "Not even a Potion? … Fine. Let me cure you, at least."

He did not answer, but he removed his hand from his side. She winced. The gash wasn't deep enough to endanger his life, but it must be incredibly painful. She placed her hands above the wound and let her magic work. The cut slowly closed, and she could see from how he tensed it must be an incredibly unpleasant feeling.

"Now that I'm all fixed up, I guess I should go back to him..." He sounded really reluctant, so when he tried to get up, she put a hand on his shoulder.

"I think you need some rest. It's a beautiful day, so how about you take a nap here? You can go after you've rested. Perhaps his anger will be gone with time?"

He chuckled. "If you think that, you don't know a damn thing about that geezer. But yeah, I could use some sleep, actually. However, wouldn't your master be angry at you if he found out you helped me? We both know he hates me."

"He doesn't hate you, Vanitas" she said, even though they both knew that was a lie. "He just... disagrees on how Master Xehanort is raising you. But anyway, what he doesn't know cannot hurt him, right?"

"Be careful, Aqua, thinking that way might lead you straight to the Darkness."

She smiled as she lied down next to him, crossing her arms under her head. "You might be right. I'll make sure to do even more kind things to compensate, then, and I will be safe."

She heard a soft chuckle, muffled by his helmet.

After a moment of silence, his breath became louder, more regular. She stared at the clouds for a while, thinking of how everything would have been different if Master Eraqus had taken care of Vanitas as well as Ventus, then slowly fell asleep as well.

When she woke up, the sun was setting, and she was alone. However, when she looked next to her, where the boy had been sleeping, she noticed an Ether bottle that clearly did not belong to her. She smiled as she took the bottle and got up. Amused, she whispered to herself as she walked home. "Be careful, Vanitas, acting that way might lead you straight to the Light."


	2. Stargazing

Aqua couldn't sleep. She had tried every technique, counting sheeps, listing all stupid things Ven could do whenever she wasn't watching, shuting her eyes really tight and waiting, but nothing could do: she just wasn't tired.

She looked up at the sky from her window. It was a clear night, and the stars were shining so brightly; her mind was made up. She grabbed a blanket, let herself in the kitchen to make a thermos of tea, and left to her secret spot.

There wasn't anyone there – not that she expected anything else. She sat against a tree, wrapped in her blanket, and absorbed herself in the contemplation of the stars.

She barely heard the sound of the corridor of Darkness opening behind her. But when she heard a voice calling her name, she slowly turned her head, to see Vanitas standing a few feet away.

"Are you hurt again?" she asked, mildly worried. He shook his head.

"I was bored. The grass here is comfy to sleep, much better than the ground on the Graveyard. Didn't think I'd bump into anyone. What are you doing? Shouldn't you be sleeping, like, in your bed?"

"The stars are particularly beautiful tonight. I'm just stargazing."

"Star... gazing?" He lifted his head to look at the night sky. He took a step back.

"Woah! Were there always so many? We can barely see them in the Graveyard!"

"Do you want to sit and watch them with me?"

"That sounds boring." Yet, he sat at quite some distance from her, his head turned towards the lights.

"You know, they say that every star up there is another world."

"No way! There cannot be so many worlds. I would know. I've visited plenty-" He stopped himself, but Aqua knew what he meant. When he freed so many Unversed on different worlds. That was one of the reason Master Eraqus did not like him. Vanitas was a creature of Darkness. If the Master found them out, he would be so disappointed.

"I'd like to visit them all, one day. Travel to all these places. Meet all kind of people."

"I wonder if I could open dark corridors to any place. I might try, one day. Damn, what's that star shining so bright over there?"

"This one?" Aqua pointed to a star and he nodded. "I believe that's the Enchanted Dominion. Look, with that one looking slightly orange, and that green one over there, they are making the Trinity Constellation."

"Constellation?"

"That's a pattern in the sky, you can make by tracing lines between the stars. And if you connect these five ones", she was pointing at the stars as she was talking, even though he probably couldn't tell which ones she was showing, "they are known as the Morph Constellation. And right there..."

"You sure know a lot about them."

"A few years ago, I became fascinated by the stars, so I read all I could about them in the library. I have forgotten a few of them, of course, but... Are you cold?" she interrupted, noticing he was shivering. He looked away.

"I'm fine."

"Come on, sit next to me, I'll share my blanket with you."

"Don't insult me. I'm not sitting there."

"But it will be more convenient to show you the stars, though. And I have some warm tea."

He sighed. "Alright. But that's for the tea. And the stars. Not for you."

She gave him a big smile and arranged the blanket over the two of them. She gave him the thermos. He hesitated for a moment, then finally removed his helmet to drink. She had seen his face before – but never without his usual crualty. He looked so young right now.

"Tell me more about the stars."

"Fine. See this line of greenish ones? They are called the Mermaids. And if you look just above the third one..."

She taught him all she knew, until she eventually realized he had fallen asleep. She carefully placed the blanket all over him, rested slowly his head against the tree and softly ruffled his hair before leaving.

She wouldn't want anyone to come looking for her, and find him instead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't really see Vanitas as a tea-lover, I would see him with some coffee (full of sugar) or a hot chocolate. But since in my mind Aqua loves tea (and would praise all the benefits of it until you'd actually fall asleep or something), well, Vanitas had no choice! He was just really cold. But he probably just thought that it tasted like weird hot water. (especially since I'm pretty sure she did not add any sugar in that XD)
> 
> And yeah, poor booy sleeps on the floor. Hospitality isn't Master Xehanort's second name.
> 
> Also, in case the last sentence is messy, if Aqua slept there, someone might have come looking for her and found Vanitas as well. But if they see her being inside the castle/mansion/whatever, they will probably not go to the clearing at all, so Vanitas alone is pretty safe.


	3. Birthday

The sun was setting and the peaceful clearing was lit by a pretty shade of red. Vanitas's helmet was reflecting the sunlight, almost blinding Aqua. He noticed and removed it.

"So. What do you want? Don't you know it's pretty risky to contact me that way?"

She tried to look guilty, but her eyes were shining way too much. She had gone to many other worlds, trying to find Vanitas. When she did find him, they fought, as they were supposed to do whenever they'd meet, she whispered her message to him, unable to know if his master was spying on them – they had to look inconspicuous. He finally vanished, leaving behind a dozen of Unversed. She had noticed they were less aggressive towards her lately, and the creatures did not attack. She also noticed she was starting to feel guilty destroying the Unversed, and she now only killed those attacking her.

"I really needed you to be here today. It was important."

"Yeah. Kinda guessed it. Your message was " _Come Friday when the sun is setting. It's important._ ". Mind elaborating?"

She couldn't hide her smile anymore as she answered.

"Today is Ventus's birthday!"

From his face, it was obvious this statement pissed him off.

"What of it? Do you want me to sing him a song? Give him a big hug perhaps?" he snarled, bitter. Aqua's big blue eyes widened in surprise.

"Of course not! I wouldn't ask you to... That's not what I meant, Vanitas!"

"So what? You brought me a slice of cake to pretend I'm part of your sick and twisted family?"

Her eyes reflected the pain caused by his words, but she calmly shook her head and brought back her happy face.

"We decided on Ven's birthday date based on when he joined us. Of course, he had no memory of his real birthday. But then, last week, I thought... Since you were born from the same heart, surely you should share the same birthday! Correct me if I'm wrong, but... I guess Master Xehanort never really celebrated that, did he?"

She could almost hear his brain processing her words, while he slowly shook his head.

"That's what I thought, and that's why I wanted you here today. Here! Happy Birthday!"

She took a small package from the basket she had been holding this whole time, and handed it to him. The packaging was carefully wrapped in a red paper, with a black ribbon around. He looked at it, puzzled.

"Come on, open it!" She was obviously excited, but he had issues grasping the situation. He never really had presents before. But she was staring at him so intensely that he tore the paper away, to find out the present was a book. He smirked.

"That's really like you to get me a book."

"I thought you might like this one, actually."

She was beyond happy, she was glowing. He could almost feel her stupid happiness all around him.

He looked at the book cover. It was the picture of a sky. He browsed quickly though the pages, and there was a lot of text with pictures of what he guessed were constellations. Somehow, he felt slightly happy that she had remembered that. But he couldn't really look at her right now. She noticed.

"Is something wrong?"

"Nothing. That's... that's a great book. Thanks."

She gasped, as if she had understood. But there was no way she would with only what he had said, right?

"Vanitas... Could it be... You cannot read?" Her voice was void of judgement, of mockery, of pity. It was just a question.

"Well, the old man did not really think that mattered. But how in the worlds did you..."

"It just occurred to me Ventus couldn't read either when he joined us. I think it could have been because of the amnesia, but if you were born back then... It's no surprise."

Vanitas looked away. He did not know if he should be angry to be compared to Ventus again, or glad to know that loser couldn't read either.

"Do you want me to teach you? It might take some time, but trust me, it's worth it."

"Whatever. I'm easily bored, that could keep me busy for a while."

Did she notice his actual blush, no matter how light it was? Surely, she would think it was because of the sunset. But what about the shaking in his voice? If she noticed, she didn't say anything. She just smiled at him.

"That's a deal then! Soon, you'll be able to read that book on your own, and learn so much more about the stars. But before that..."

She pulled something else from her basket. He was curious. Another present?

He actually gawked when she pulled out a big chocolate cake from the basket.

"Before that, let's eat! Happy Birthday, Vanitas!"

It was probably because he never had any before, but that was the best birthday of his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We all need some fluff in our lives! So that's one of the headcanon of this story: Vanitas cannot actually read. (Fun fact : when I first wrote the chapter, Aqua had given a paper invitation to Vanitas... So basically at the beginning of the chapter he was like "hey I read your invitation so I came" and at the end "by the way I can't read", I facepalmed soooo hard when I realised how stupid I was x'D)  
> [Side note: When Vanitas bitterly asks if she brought him a slice of cake, Aqua must have thought that he would refuse the cake she brought... No worries, he ate most of it by himself XD ]
> 
> This chapter was the first idea that came to my mind when I decided to write this fic! The two other chapters were meant to set things up: Vanitas loving the stars and Vanitas being unable to read. Next chapter will be the beginning of an arc~


	4. Lessons

Learning wasn't as easy as Vanitas had thought it'd be. When it came to fighting, he would always master everything really quickly. But those letters – he kept mixing them up, why would they all look so similar?

He tried not to feel insulted when Aqua had brought children books to teach him. As if to soothe his anger, she assured him that Ven had needed books even simpler – and it was pretty effective, his pride was calmed down.

Also, the fact that he could come only once or twice a week did not help. They couldn't meet past sunset, for there was not enough light to read past that, and not too often, because she had to train and he couldn't be gone too often without his old Master questioning him. He couldn't even keep the book, afraid the old man would find it, so Aqua kept it safely.

But he was getting better. He could read most of the letters if they were in upper-case, and some words too. Aqua was also teaching him how to write and he could now write his own name. Even when he was not with her, he practised by tracing letters on the ground, or by trying to read words he'd see on other worlds. But it was slow, and frustrating, and that day, he left out a sight as he threw the book away.

"That's stupid. Let's face it, I'm too old for that. It's too late."

Aqua let a giggle out. "You're not going to like it, but you remind me of Terra." She was right, he did not like it. "Always so impatient. But you made so much progress, and I mean it! Look!"

She wrote down something on her notepad, and showed him. He cursed between his teeth at how neat her handwriting was, while his own was shaky and messy. He read every letter in his head, trying to form the words.

"Well... Done. Well done? Seriously?"

"Last week, you couldn't read it, and now you do. I'm proud of you, Vanitas. You might not notice how much better you have become, but I do."

She pulled out some food from her basket – this time, it was a strawberry pie.

"Let's make a deal. If you can write down  _cake_  on this notepad, I'll let you have a slice. If you fail three times, I'll eat all of it in front of you."

He squinted at the challenge. "You wouldn't eat it all. You'd get fat."

"Magic is really calorie-consuming, you know. And I wouldn't mind getting fat for a strawberry pie, that's my favourite! Oh, I'm looking forward to eat it down the very last slice..." She licked her lips, almost already drooling at the pie. He knew that was just provocation, and that she probably would share anyway. But he fell for it, his pride hurt. Taking the pen and the notepad, he wrote his first try. Cake was a short word, how hard could it be?

"Let me see? K-A-K? Nope! However, the last two letters are good, good job! You need to change the first one, and add another at the end."

He thought deeply about what could be the first letter. When he glanced at Aqua, she was already eating a strawberry. It made him furious and he hurried to his second try.

"Q-A-K-E? That was a good guess! Indeed, the E was missing. Remember how I told you that without an E at the end of a word, the pronunciation changes. However, the first letter is still off. The Q is rarely used without a U behind it. Just like in my name. A-Q-U-A. Last try. Do your best!"

He pretended not to see she was already cutting him a slice. He wanted to get it right. He wanted to. He tried to remember the book they were using. To remember a word with the K sound. Then, suddenly, he remembered the picture of the cat. He remembered the word was short and easy to write. What was the first letter like again...?

"Here! My last try! I'm sure I'm right now!"

Aqua looked at the notepad and clapped her hands. "Correct! Here is your prize! Oh, but perhaps I should eat it, though? I'm really hungry, you know..."

She pretended to take the plate away, but Vanitas leaped on her, stealing the precious slice of pie. She was laughing and soon enough he was too, as they both sat and enjoyed the sweetness of the pie.

When he left her, his head full of new letters and his mouth full of leftover pie, he did not notice the shadow behind the trees.

If only he had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. Much cliffhanger. Such surprise. Now you have to click on that "next chapter" button. Dang it.


	5. Ribbons

Picking a day for the lesson wasn't an easy job. Aqua could not carelessly go to the Keyblade Graveyard and just ask to see Vanitas. Neither could she openly put a note on the main door for him to see (and she doubted he would be able to read a full note yet anyway).

But they had found a solution. She would hang on one of the trees of the clearing a coloured ribbon. There were seven of them, one for each day. Monday was white, Tuesday was red, Wednesday was blue, Thursday was green, Friday was yellow, Saturday was purple and Sunday was black. That way, Vanitas could open a portal just long enough to see the colour of the ribbon, and come the right day. It happened he couldn't come, or she. He'd sometimes add a ribbon next to hers, to ask for another day.

Today was Sunday. She did her usual morning jogging before the breakfast, and checked that only the black ribbon was tied to the branch. He had not put another one – Sunday was fine with him. She ran for another twenty minutes before rushing to the shower then to the kitchen.

Something was off. She couldn't tell what exactly, but something was off. Perhaps it was the way Terra said Good Morning, not sounding quite cheerful. But everyone had rough mornings, from time to time. It could have been how the Master stared at her for at least ten seconds, before looking away without a word. But he was quite often lost in his thoughts, he might even not really have noticed her.

Only Ven was his usual self. Until he had his breakfast, he groaned more than he spoke, but once his hot chocolate gulped down, he turned back to his cheerful and dynamic self. Aqua sighed. She was probably the tired one, overthinking things.

They trained until lunch, and then the master gave them a lecture on how the worlds were connected. Aqua absent-mindedly smiled: Vanitas would probably have been really interested by that. She did her best to memorize it all to tell him later.

However, at the end of the lecture, her master asked her to wait. Ventus looked at them, curious, but Terra dragged the boy outside. Aqua knew it probably meant nothing, but she still felt her stomach knotting. Could he know?

"Aqua, I need your help. See, I have recently collected all these books, and I need to put them on the shelves, but I've got so much work to do. No one knows how the books are sorted better than you in our library, child. Would you mind taking care of that for me? That is, unless you had something else planned, of course. I can still ask Terra or Ventus to do it."

She tried to imagine one of her friends figuring out where which book should go, and the mess that would end up being, and she couldn't help but smile. She had been wrong to worry. That meant she couldn't meet up with Vanitas though – unless she worked really hard. Yes, she would do her best and then run to him.

Of course, she didn't expect so many books. She was fast, but the pile never seemed to grow smaller. She was a bookworm, but even  _she_  started to wonder if they needed so many books. What was strange was that some of them looked familiar. She couldn't quite put the finger on it, but the uneasy feeling she had this morning came back. That was until she saw  _the_  book.  _Realm of Light and Constellations – by A. Smollet_. That book was the reason she knew so much about stars in the first place. She opened it and even found that piece of paper she used as a bookmark then. This book was nothing but new. The reason she found the books familiar was because they were – she had read some of them before. But why the master would pretend they were new, and not tell her that he just had picked quite a lot of them for his researches, and never put them back? Her hands started to shake. It felt weird. The knots in her stomach were back.

"Aqua? What did the master want?"

She looked at Ven. How pure and innocent he looked, with his big blue eyes on her. She smiled, not wanting to worry him. "He wanted to to put back these books to the shelves. No big deal, really."

"What? But I went to his office yesterday, and they weren't there! When did he have time to read that all?"

That could have been the reason he had lied to her. She would have been curious. Why would he need so many books on so many subjects at the same time?

"Ven, aren't you training with Terra?"

Ven pouted. Aqua's heart would always melt at this pout, but this time, it just started beating faster.

"No. The Master and him said they had some business in the woods and that I should go back and study. I don't know what kind of business that is, though, they were using code names or something."

"Code names?"

"Yeah. All I heard them mention was that there was a Black Ribbon. Don't know what that means."

Oh, but Aqua knew. Her heart stopped beating frenetically. It completely stopped beating, actually. She turned as pale as death.

She knew what that meant and started running.

Because  _they_  knew too.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quite frankly, I was proud of my ribbons system. A shame it won't last. (oh was that spoiler? Nooo, that was teaser!)


	6. Blades

He should have known something was off. She sometimes was late, but after twenty minutes, he should have known. But instead, he simply decided to take a nap on the grass. And when he heard footsteps coming, he thought it was her.

"What took you so long? I was almost about to..."

But no one would know what he was about to do, because two blades landed on each side of his head, crossing as if to make some very dangerous scissors around his neck. Not Aqua, then. He let out a cruel laugh.

"You know, if you guys wanted a pair of sharp scissors blades, you could just have let me forge the X-Blade. It would have made everyone happy."

"What are you doing on this land, Vanitas?"

Unmoving, his helmet hiding his face, he smirked and made sure his voice would carry the expression.

"Oh come on. Surely you must know already, if you both are here. So what, Daddy is unpleased his little girl hangs out with a bad boy? That's too bad. If only you knew all we have already done together... Ugh!"

He was interrupted by Terra's foot violently landing on his stomach. The sudden pain almost folded him in half - his neck would have been welcomed by the blades, so he was glad he had some self control.

"Silence, you freak. Say anything else inappropriate about Aqua and I will finish you off myself."

"Oh? So that what you came here for? You must be so disappointed."

"I don't know how you have corrupted her, but this will stop right away, Vanitas. I made it clear before you were not welcome there. Why couldn't you just stay away?"

"Corrupted her? Please, give her a little bit more credit than that. How can you be surprised that, after raising such a nice and polite girl, she actually shows kindness to both allies and foes? Shouldn't you be proud to see how full of Light Aqua is?"

He was welcomed by another kick from Terra. This time, he had to stop his motion an inch away from the blades.

"I don't ever want to hear you say her name. Don't sully her name."

Vanitas let out a deep sigh. He didn't know how Aqua managed not to suffocate with these two around. No wonder she escaped so often to her secret clearing. Suddenly, he realized that this place wasn't secret anymore. Sure, it stopped being secret the moment he got there, but it was still  _their_  place. The place she'd teach him the names of the stars, the name of the letters, how they could be stitched together to form words. And that made him angry, more than the kicks Terra was giving him, more than the stifling relationship her master forced on her.

"Sully her name? Have no worries, she probably calls my name more than yours... Why don't you have a look at her notepad? You'll see she had written mine over and over."

Terra was about to kick him in the face (and Vanitas knew that even with the helmet, that would hurt) when a voice yelled at them to stop. Vanitas relaxed a little, and Terra felt that. The young man crushed Vanitas's fingers, so subtly it could almost have looked like an accident.

"Master, Terra, what is the meaning of this?"

"I could be asking the very same to you, Aqua. You have disappointed me."

"How so? How could I disappoint you if you judge without asking for an explanation? How could I disappoint you if you have no idea of what is going on?"

Eraqus picked his blade up the ground. Vanitas let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. Terra's face still dissuaded him from moving, but at least he did not have those dangerous scissors upon his throat anymore. Not that the master wasn't a threat, though.

"Aqua, you should know that Vanitas is our enemy. He is not welcome here, he knows it and you know it too. You should have told us. But now he should be punished for disobeying, I had warned him before. My sentence... Is death!"

Vanitas held a smirk. How dramatic the man was, pausing his sentence at the right moment, and raising his blade above his head at the word death. There was no denying he grew up with the old geezer, in the end they talked the very same way.

Busy acting all dramatic, he probably did not notice Aqua moved towards him. She did not run, she calmly walked to them, and she acted so naturally Vanitas barely paid attention to that. But when she stopped in front of him, he could not really not see her.

She took her master's blade, and once again, moved so naturally that no one reacted. She put the tip of the weapon on her chest and stared at the man.

"You want to kill him? Do it. But please be aware that this means you will probably have to kill me first. Vanitas is my guest, and as long as I am here, nobody is allowed to hurt him. Surely you understand, Master Eraqus, Terra?"

Terra tried to protest, but her deadly serious face shut him up. Eraqus looked at Aqua for a very long time, before sighing and moving his keyblade away.

"Very well. But this was my last warning. If I ever see you again, Vanitas, whether it is in this world or any other world, you will die. Are we clear, Aqua? That monster is not allowed here anymore. Now you cannot pretend you didn't know."

Vanitas could see how Aqua's back relaxed a bit, although her face still showed how furious she was. She threw Terra's keyblade back to its owner with no delicacy, and helped Vanitas back to his feet.

"I think it's time for you to go, Vanitas. It has been a pleasure. Accept my apologies for the treatment you received here. Since I cannot guarantee your safety on this land anymore, it's best if you don't come back."

No matter how neutral and cold she tried to be, he could still see the tears she was holding in. He opened a Corridor behind him and slowly stepped back to it, refusing to turn his back on them. Just before disappearing, he cheerfully yelled.

"See you around, losers! Try to think who the real monster was in that story, though." and then, in a smaller voice, almost a whisper, "and thank you for your teachings, Aqua."

Did she hear him? He couldn't tell, but the last thing he saw before letting the darkness surround his body was a single tear running down her cheek.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas guys <3


	7. Alone

Night was falling, and Aqua stretched. She had been so absorbed in the book she had not seen time fly away, but the growlings in her stomach informed her that her body had not forgotten dinner time. She put the book back and quietly left the library, walking towards the kitchen. Ven was already there and welcomed her with a huge smile – it would have been cute, had he not had chocolate spread all across his teeth, and even managed to get some on his forehead, Aqua noted.

"There are leftovers in the oven. The Master cooked us some chicken, and it is so juicy! Terra actually had to yell at me so that I wouldn't eat everything and would leave some to you."

"You shouldn't eat too much before going to bed, Ven. You will not sleep well."

The boy was grinning and about to answer, when he suddenly froze. Aqua did not have to turn back to know what would make him that uneasy.

"May I help you, Terra?"

It had been a whole month since what happened in the clearing. Since then, she had not put a foot in there, and they did not talk about it. Mainly because Aqua refused to talk about anything with them, actually. She would keep their conversations to the bare minimum, in training or in class, and retreat to the library whenever she had some free time. She felt sorry for Ven who ended up in the middle of all of that. He knew the main lines of the story and kept himself from choosing a side, but he came to sleep with her the night after it all happened, hugging her until her tears had dried up. She knew it wasn't fair for him, but she could not back off.

"Actually, I would like to talk to you. Could you sit down for a minute and listen to me?"

"I don't mind standing. I've spent four hours sitting already. Did the Master send you?"

He sighed. "Fine. And yes, he did. Wait! Don't leave just yet. I'd just like you to listen to what we have to say."

She crossed her arms and looked at him, impassive.

"I know we have hurt your feelings. You were showing kindness to Vanitas, and I'm sure he did not do anything to harm you, yet, we treated him the way we did, and by that we insulted your kindness. The Master apologizes for upsetting you, and I am so, so sorry to have angered you, to have showed so much disrespect towards your feelings. I don't expect you to forgive me, but I want you to know that there isn't a single second I am not in pain to see how sad you are. I wish I knew how to make you smile again, I wish I knew how to hear you laugh again. I have hurt you, and I know I will bear the guilt of that forever."

His words softened Aqua's anger. She knew he was sincere. She knew he meant every single word. She could see the pain in his eyes, the way he tried to hide his hands were shaking, the way his shoulders had collapsed.

"But you will not let Vanitas come over again, will you?" She was surprised by how soft her voice came out. She expected to be angry, but she just sounded sad.

"No. He is..." He glanced at Ven, who was listening to them, worried. "He is made of Darkness. You have seen the Unversed, what they do. You know about Master Xehanort's plan to bring the world to a new war. You know their ultimate goal is to forge the X-Blade. We cannot allow him to come back here. I'm sorry."

"Are you sorry for him, or for me? It feels like you are not apologizing to the right person, Terra." She shook her head. Terra was sad, and she was tired of this quarrel. "If you want to apologize for your terrible behaviour towards Vanitas, it is to Vanitas you should apologize. However, if you want to apologize to me for something, then perhaps you should apologize for bringing weapons and violence to my safe haven. That clearing is a place of peace. This is the reason Vanitas was coming here. This was a place without violence, without war, without all the troubles of the worlds. This was a place where people were just people, not enemies bound by their duty to kill each other. It was a neutral ground, and you brought all your negativity, your judgement, your hate in it. This is what you should feel sorry for. I cannot go back there, because it is now tainted with so many negative things. You took my safe place away from me."

Terra lowered his head, and after a few seconds, fell to his knees. Aqua kneeled next to him.

"You are right. We should have talked with you beforehand, and we should never have intruded this place. I promised myself long ago to never trouble you when you were there, because you always seemed so peaceful, and I broke that very promise. I cannot say I am sorry, Aqua, because that doesn't convey strongly enough how miserable I feel. I can promise you to never bring a weapon there again, but would that be enough to you? Will that suffice to make the pain fade away?"

Her gaze met his, and she could see how desperate for her forgiving he was. She felt the remnants of her anger leave her heart, and she wrapped her arms around him.

"Of course. Of course, Terra. Your actions have pained me, but I know you were following your own notion of good. I know the Master and you think you are doing the right thing, and I cannot blame you for it, even though our visions differ in some points. However, let me guess, if you ever spot Vanitas around, even in my clearing...?"

"I will put an end to him." Terra's tone wasn't harsh or cold. It was just a statement. It was his duty, what he had to do. Aqua hugged him and he hugged her back, both incredibly sorry that they knew they would never be able to find an agreement on that matter.

"Now that everyone's friends again, can I have the chicken leftovers?" Ven cheerfully asked, making the three of them burst into laughters.

After finishing what was left of that (indeed) juicy poultry, Aqua decided to quickly go back to the clearing. No one was there, and it was still full of the terrible events of that day, but she quickly dismissed them, remembering all those nights watching the stars, Vanitas not acting like an enemy but just like a boy, eager to learn, and she relaxed. She still had so much more pleasant memories here, she couldn't let bad things cloud them.

She heard a noise in a tree, like the chirp of a bird, but when she looked up, she had the surprise to see an Unversed, staring at her with its tiny red eyes. The creature jumped on her but made no sign to attack. Instead, it fell on its back, and she could see a piece of paper tied around its neck. She picked the paper, and the creature bounced away, disappearing into the woods.

She carefully unfolded the note. It was a messy handwriting, just like one of a child, but she smiled even before reading it. He sure must have trained a lot. She took her time to decipher it, with only the faint light of the moon to see.

"F... U... Oh" she blushed as she understood what the message was. It was made of two words, the second one being 'them' and the first rhyming with duck, although he clearly forgot the C.

Still amused by it, and glad it meant he was okay and probably not angry at her, she walked back to her room. She unlocked her door (she always locked it when leaving, a girl deserved some privacy and that wasn't a concept Ven quite understood yet) and opened it.

She was welcomed by shining topaz eyes and a smile halfway between a grin and a smirk. She quickly entered her room and closed the door behind her.

Vanitas was sitting on her bed, his constellations book in hand and his eyes brighter than ever.

"Now, tell me, what will the next lesson be?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Vanitas has no idea of what privacy means either, to be fair. And no lock can stop someone with the power of corridors of darkness.  
> I wish I could blame Terra for his actions but I can't. He really loves Aqua and Ventus and what he's doing is only to protect them.  
> Also, Ventus = ball of pure fluff.


	8. Memo

They had not given up. They would not meet on the clearing anymore, they both knew it was too risky. But they would meet on other worlds, where the rules were different. They fought, blade against blade, and when they were close enough, Aqua would tell him a word and he would have to spell it. Sometimes, pretending he was stunned by her attack (most of the time it wasn't even pretending), he would write the word on the dust. Sometimes, pretending she was stunned by his attack (most of the time it wasn't even pretending), she would write another word on the dust, and he would have to read it out loud.

He would leave notes on his Unversed, always the same one (Aqua decided to call her Memo, Vanitas said it was a stupid name but started using it as well), and Aqua would correct them. He was getting better at writing, he could now use lowercase and started being familiar with cursive as well. His handwriting was becoming steadier, he would write longer notes. Sometimes, he would just copy some passages of books he'd find here and there.

And on really rare occasions, he would open a corridor right to her room and they would read together some extracts from his birthday book, she would tell him about what she had learnt from Master Eraqus or he would tell her about some of the worlds he visited.

They never mentioned their fight of Light and Darkness. Sure, when they fought in the worlds, she would have to destroy the Unversed he created, noticing how he actually recoiled whenever she destroyed too much, and he would try to hurt her. But that was just a part of the game they were playing – a dangerous game, in which their duty was to stop each other, but their goal was to learn as much as they could from one another without getting caught.

Aqua knew she had been found out. Terra was not stupid, he had noticed how she would come back home exhausted but happy, and while he sometimes helped her to get rid of Unversed, he would ask her to finish the job seconds before Vanitas would show up. Of course she wouldn't mention that to Vanitas, and she did not exactly spoke of it with Terra either.

However, the day where they had to stop pretending came.

Aqua had been teaching some Magic tricks to Ventus all morning, when she noticed though the window a dark creature in the park, twitching its ears at her. She smiled without really noticing.

"Aqua? What's so funny?" Ven asked, tilting his head the exact same way the Unversed did. Aqua smiled at him.

"Nothing. But we deserve a break. How about we resume this afternoon?"

Ven smiled, probably relieved. "Sure! I'm going to my room, I'll see you after lunch!"

She ruffled his hair and left.

She spotted the Unversed from afar, hiding between the trees. She started to go after it, jogging as if she was just doing her daily training. But before she could reach her messenger, she realized she wasn't alone. Terra, keyblade in hand, was about to destroy the creature.

"Terra, no!" He stopped right away and looked at her. The creature quickly bounced to Aqua, hiding behind her legs. Aqua kneeled and scratched the tiny Unversed right between its ears.

"Please. Don't hurt her."

"Her?" He didn't really sound angry. She was glad.

"Yes. Her name is Memo. She is... She carries some messages." Aqua carefully picked the paper wrapped around the creature's neck. "She means no harm. She is but a messenger."

Terra smirked. "So that's how the two of you communicate, uh? Who would have thought."

He started walking towards her, and saying she wasn't afraid would be a lie. She cradled Memo in her arms, trying to protect her. But Terra simply kneeled next to her and patted Memo's head carefully. "And you even gave it a name. That's really like you. Couldn't you put a collar or something on it... Sorry,  _her_ , so that I don't destroy her by accident?"

Aqua's cheeks turned pink as she looked at Terra. "Terra... Thank you."

He smiled at her and messed with her hair.

"Don't you worry. I won't tell the Master about it. I don't know what him and you are doing, but really, I don't care. As long as you can promise me he's not hurting you..."

"He's not!" promptly assured Aqua.

"Well, as long as he is not a threat, and I don't see him here... Because he's my enemy doesn't mean he's got to be yours. I hope that one day, you will accept to tell me what is going on, but until then... Have fun."

As if reacting to his words, Memo jumped from Aqua's arms right to Terra's lap, and Aqua threw her arms at Terra's neck.

"Woah there, that's a lot of affection! You know I'll always have your back."

He gently fondled her hair and stood up, carefully putting Memo back on Aqua's lap.

"It's my turn to make lunch. And don't you have a message to read?"

She returned his smile and unfolded the paper.

 _There is this world with mani stars. Want to see them tomoro nay_  (it was crossed out)  _nit_  (crossed out)  _night?_

She held the paper close to her heart. She knew life was not quite so simple, but at this moment, there wasn't a thing that could have ruined her happiness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way, Memo is a hareraiser! They are probably my favourite Unversed, they are incredibly cute !
> 
> I needed another way for them to communicate (just use cellphones already kiddos!), an Unversed sounded like a good idea! (the only risk is for the message to be intercepted which is why I needed a small Unversed. Memo was originally a Flood, but then I thought Aqua would like a cute bunny [well no actually I liked the idea of a cute bunny XD] )


	9. New World

"Where are we going?"

He had insisted to blindfold her before leading her through his corridor.

"Shut up. It's a surprise."

Although she couldn't see, she knew as soon as they arrived in that new world. The air was dry and quite hot, and the ground wasn't really firm, like... sand?

"Is this... a beach?"

"Nope! But that's okay, you can remove the blindfold now."

She did, and discovered she was in the middle of a desert. Vanitas was lying on the sand, staring at the sky. She looked up, and the sky was sparkling with so many stars she couldn't help but smile.

" _Afar from any source of artificial light, stars appear to shine brighter_. That was written in the book. So when I first came to this place, away from any civilisation, I thought they would shine like they never did before. Plus, it's a new world for you, isn't it?"

Aqua sat next to him, unable to look away from the sky.

"It is. I've never been there, it's... beautiful." Suddenly, she took her eyes off the stars to look at Vanitas. "That was written in the... You read that on your own?"

He nodded, a big grin on his face. "Yup! I can read on my own now! I'm a bit slow, and writing still is a tough job, but you are now talking to a fully literate man! I'm sure Ventus took so much longer than me!"

Aqua chuckled. If only he knew how much he looked like Ven at that point, with his victorious face... But of course, telling him would probably ruin this moment, so she let go of that thought.

"It took him a bit longer, indeed. But he was never able to focus on anything for too long so I wouldn't really call him an attentive student."

Vanitas's grin grew bigger as he nodded, obviously proud of beating Ven. Aqua turned her head back to the starry sky, a huge smile drawn across her face.

"Thank you, Aqua."

Keeping her eyes on the new constellations she was seeing, she chuckled. "It's nothing. I'm glad I was able to teach you something."

"Not for that. Well, yes, thank you for teaching me how to read, but more importantly, thank you for... trusting me. Defending me in front of your friends. For never judging me, no matter the terrible things I did and the ones I'll probably do one day. For everything."

Aqua felt tears prickling the corner of her eyes, but she fought them back. Instead, she tenderly ruffled his hair. "You don't have to thank me for that. I'm having a lot of fun with you. We don't see the world the same way, but you still deserve to be respected. I'm sad I'm the only one to apparently notice that."

She looked away, feeling the tears coming back. She felt his hand grabbing hers, and suddenly his face was in front of her, and their lips connected. She closed her eyes and waited for a couple of seconds before pulling her head back.

"Vanitas, I... I'm sorry, I don't..." She was at a loss for words, thoughts violently crashing in her brain so quickly she couldn't sort them out.

"No worries. I know. It's no big deal." He was still smiling at her, his cheeks perhaps a bit redder than usual. Aqua's face, on the other hand, was probably crimson by now.

Vanitas let out a sigh and lied down on the sand.

"I know I'd never win. I saw how Terra looks at you. I really dislike him and he's so overprotecting I want to strangle him, but you'd look good together. But I can't wait to see his face, the day he discovers I kissed you before he could."

"You think this is a game? You think this is fun, Vanitas?" Aqua didn't know whether she should feel hurt or not.

"Well, I'm being rejected right now. Don't you think it's better to laugh it off?"

His tone was sarcastic, but Aqua could hear the hurt in his words. She lowered her eyes.

"Vanitas, it's... It's not like that. Life is... I just don't know. I wish I could give you an answer, a proper one. And I know Terra would like me to give him one as well, one day. But... I've never really thought of anyone that way. I'm just so focused on my training, on everything! Love is... it's not a feeling I'm familiar with. I'm sorry. I wish I could tell you something else."

He laughed and kindly punched her arm.

"Told you. It's no big deal. I wasn't really expecting for an answer, let alone a positive one anyway. Don't you lose sleep because of that. I'm not really familiar with feelings that are not negative either, quite frankly."

She smiled at him, letting the tears run freely.

"Will things be awkward between us now?" he finally asked.

"Of course not!" she said without thinking. Then, at his sceptical face, "Maybe. Yes, I think it might be a bit... strange for a while."

He smirked and shrugged. "Good. That way, Terra will know something happened, and he's going to be  _so_  mad... Good times! But enough with that now!"

He grabbed her hand, forcing her to lie down on the sand as well.

"We were here to look at the stars, right? So tell me all you know about these ones."

Aqua kindly obeyed, her voice becoming steadier as she spoke, her tears drying up. And as she pointed at the stars with her right hand, Vanitas had not let go of her left one and she did nothing to get it back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is this story a TerrAqua story? Is that a VanAqua story? Is this a story where Aqua doesn't chose? It took me quite a while to figure it out... and it should take you a while as well :p (hopefully x'D)


	10. Wounds

Everything around seemed fine, Aqua thought as she finished inspecting the Dwarf Woodlands. Master Eraqus had sent her on patrol there, to check if anything was wrong. She had met and destroyed a few Unversed (and mentally addressed an apology to Vanitas if he had felt any pain for that), but everything else was peaceful and quiet. She even had met Snow White, now married to the Prince and enjoying every second of her life, and that warmed Aqua's heart.

She heard the now familiar sound of a dark corridor opening, and she turned to the direction of the sound. She happily ran towards the silhouette emerging from the Darkness. He was still wearing his helmet, and the way he walked was a bit off. Still, she saw his shoulders relax when he noticed her, and he tilted his head – even with the helmet on, she knew from his pose how contemptuous his expression was.

"Have I made myself so indispensable to you, so that you can't stop yourself from stalking me? Girl, can't spend a day without seeing me, can you? No wonders though, I'm just so much more interesting than the losers you spend your time with."

"Hey! I know you do not like them, but please refrain yourself from insulting them in front of me. They still are my friends."

He shrugged, probably not caring at all, and Aqua sighed. He still wasn't removing his helmet, and she bit her tongue to not tell him that was rude.

"Hey, Aqua..." he finally said after she probably stared at him for too long, "would you mind... Healing me?"

"Of course! Just show me where you're hurt!"

She knew his suit was actually made of darkness, much like his helmet, and that he could just repair any damage made to the suit with his will, or remove some bits of it, so she didn't blink when some parts of the suit and his helmet turned into a dark steam, vanishing into the air.

However, she did blink when she saw the actual wounds. She didn't even know how he had managed to act so naturally, when he probably shouldn't even be conscious anymore.

They both had a silent agreement: she would never ask whenever he would came back from his training with many wounds, his helmet almost broken, his face bruised. Aqua disapproved strongly the methods his Master would use to teach him, but just as she disliked when he was rude about her friends, she knew criticizing his mentor would just make him angry. She always healed him without a word.

But this time, it was different. Master Xehanort's training would leave him bruised, with cuts all over his body, but never anything that would endanger his life. The wounds there were deep, massively bleeding, and she was pretty sure that was a rib poking out of that torso wound (still attached to the rest, thought Aqua, the skin was just really thin there). The cut on his leg just had missed the artery. His left arm was limp. And the bruises on his neck, caused by the helmet, just showed how terrible his face would have ended up had he not worn his head protection.

She broke their silent promise. Those weren't "educational" wounds. They had been meant to kill him.

"What did your Master try to teach you, to injure you so badly?"

When she expected him to frown, he actually smirked.

"No luck, the old man has nothing to do with that, for once. I just happened to meet an old acquaintance while I was letting my cute little Unversed get some fresh air in the Castle of Dreams."

Aqua froze. Master Eraqus had sent her to the Dwarf Woodlands, while he was training Ventus. But he also had sent Terra to check on Cinderella's world. The Castle of Dreams.

"Terra..." softly whispered Aqua, almost unconsciously. Vanitas's grin grew wider, prouder.

"I don't know what you told him, but at least he understood something had happen, because he was angry beyond reason even before I could start talking! Of course, I then started teasing him and he got even angrier, I swear I could feel the Darkness stirring in him! That's the first time he looks so determined to kill me. That was pretty thrilling!"

He laughed then winced at the pain. Aqua was doing her best at healing him, letting the magic of the Curaga close his wounds, but they were deep and it was taking some time. She gave him a Potion to dull the pain, and he drank it before continuing his story.

"You must wonder how I escaped from your angry living god, right? Ouch!" she touched one of the bruise on his neck on purpose. "Fine. From your friend. It was quite easy, really. I just invoked as many Unversed as I could, and since they are born from Negativity and I don't really feel any kind of positivity or even neutrality towards him, as many as I could means a lot. While he was overwhelmed, although not overpowered I'm afraid, I bravely ran away in order not to die. And voilà!"

He looked happy, his eyes shining and his cheeks flushed, as if all of that really amused him. As if it was just a game. As if it was fun.

Aqua missed the fun in all of that. She was sad. She was not angry at Terra, who simply did what he felt was right, and not angry at Vanitas, who always tried to push everyone to their limits. But she was sad, because Terra had meant the world to her from the day she met him all those years ago, and Vanitas was now an equivalent part of her life and her heart and he meant just as much, and yet there was nothing she could do to stop them from trying to kill each other.

And she knew that if one of them died, all the Curaga in the world couldn't heal her broken heart.

"Vanitas, I think it's time to move on to another lesson."

Curious, he raised an eyebrow.

"From now on, and until you have mastered it, I will teach you how to Cure yourself. I can't let you die in a fight."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn you, Vanitas, don't you think putting your life in danger is a game è_é
> 
> That's the beginning of the second arc! The first one was the Reading Arc, and we are now entering the Curing Arc.
> 
> Also, I know 'educational wounds' are mentioned here, but please know (although I hope it was obvious) that I do not support this kind of education, okay? There is always a peaceful way and violence is no solution. I thought it would still be worth mentioning.


	11. Questions

It was a day off for Aqua. She had no training with Master Eraqus (although now she was a Master, her training was a little bit less about how to fight and more about the duties of a Master), no training with Terra and Ven (Terra called her lessons Advanced Magic 101), and no training with Vanitas (they were supposed to meet in two days for their third lesson, though).

She was simply in her clearing, sitting in the lotus position, peacefully meditating. It felt good not to think about anything, and such times usually were short, so she made the most out of it.

A bit later, she heard footsteps behind her and smiled. Peace never lasted.

"Hey. Mind if I join you?"

She opened an eye to see Terra, still panting from his training. She slightly nodded and he came forward, before abruptly stopping.

"Oh, sorry about that... There." He stepped back and left Earthshaker a bit further, away from her clearing. He could just have made the blade disappear, but by that he showed that he would not bring a weapon to this place. His consideration moved her.

He sat next to her, mimicking her pose, and for a long time, an hour perhaps, none of them talked, their eyes closed, their breathing synched. Aqua was even sure their hearts were following the same rhythm.

"Say, Aqua..." His voice broke the silence, incredibly soft, as if he was sorry to disrupt the peace. "Would you mind... There are things I'd like to know. To hear them from you. Is it okay?"

She smiled, almost surprised that day had not come earlier. She had expected his questions for more than a week, but they never managed to find some time alone. Even with her eyes closed, she could feel him twitching, probably incredibly uneasy.

"A while ago, Vanitas and I fought. I suppose you know that already." It wasn't an accusation. She did not feel the need to answer, and he went on. "He always does his best to taunt me, to provoke me. And I am afraid to say it works every single time. But that day... Tell me, is it true that he... stole your first kiss?"

Aqua nodded. Upon his lack of answer, she opened her eyes to see he was clearly getting angry.

"I knew something had happened. You did not say anything, but something had changed. To think that he would..."

"Terra," interrupted Aqua, "can I ask you something? Why would a first kiss be more important than a second, or a third? My lips are not a prize in a competition, you know. I'm not to be won. There is no first and second place."

He kept silent for a while. Then, "That kiss. Did you agree to that?"

"He did not really ask me for my permission. But I am not angry at him for that. I don't really regret that he did either."

She could see the anger was gone from his eyes, but only to be replaced with sadness.

"I did not give him a positive answer, though."

"You did not?" She could hear the hope in his voice.

"I did not. I really care about him. I don't expect you to understand, but he has become dear to me. However, he's not the only one I care so much about. I hate that both of you have to fight, and I fear I would have to chose a side because I truly cannot."

Terra opened his mouth to answer, but when she grabbed his hands and trapped his gaze with her own, he closed it right away.

"Terra, I don't want to lose you. I can't lose you. We've known each other for ever, and I want to stay by your side for even longer. You are one of the most important people of my life. I just don't want you to ever doubt that."

He smiled at her and cupped her face in his hands, bringing her closer to him. She had expected the kiss, but when his lips softly landed on her forehead, she felt her heart jump. He knew that kissing her on the lips would probably have felt insulting. So instead, he proved her how much he loved and cared for her, taking her messed up feelings into consideration.

"Dying would mean losing you, Aqua. That's not something I'd ever want to happen."

Aqua laid her head on his chest, listening to his heart as he closed his arms around her. She felt it would be fair to tell Terra that soon, he would lose his advantage over Vanitas, since the boy would be able to heal himself. But she couldn't bring the topic to him. So instead, she just listened to his heart, missing the days she wouldn't fear for his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back for 5 more chapters, the last 5 of the year!


	12. Training

"Head held high! And focus!"

"Focus? How do you expect me to focus while you're just playing with Memo?!"

Officially, Aqua was teaching Vanitas how to cast Cure. But officiously, she was having a hard time figuring how to teach him. She had explained the theory over and over, and would correct his stance as many times as she could, but she couldn't find a way for him to understand. Memo, mirroring his frustration, had started to become agitated and Aqua was petting her, trying to calm her down.

"I need you to feel it, Vanitas. That's what magic is all about. You need to feel what you're trying to do, and that is how it will happen. When you throw a Dark Firaga, what is your purpose?"

"Destroy."

"And when you summon all those keyblades?"

"Smash the opponent."

"You can summon a pillar of ice, can't you? What's in your mind then?"

"Watch 'em loser freeze to death."

Aqua sighed.

"Cure is something based on positivity. The same way you need happy thoughts to fly in Neverland, Cure needs you to think of good things, because healing someone, even yourself, requires kindness, care."

She saw how tensed he suddenly became. "Good things? Kindness? Care? Well, sorry Aqua, but you got the wrong guy here. I'm no Ventus, and I'm no Terra. In case you forgot, I am made of  _Darkness_ , I create monsters out of Negativity on a daily basis. All those cheesy things you mentioned, they all went to Ventus. Tell me about hate, about anger, about loneliness, that speaks to me. I guess I'm not cut for Cure, that's all."

He probably could have gone like this for hours, but Aqua's giggles stopped him. She could see how angry he was getting, seeing her laughing, but she couldn't stop.

"Oh, yes, please make fun of me. That's really mature of you. Come on, Memo, we're going back."

"Vanitas... No... Wait!" Aqua managed to say between two burst of laughter. "Can't you just see how ironic what you just said is?"

He gave her a cold glare, and she did her best to suppress her giggles. Standing up, she walked to him and put her hand on his cheek. He took a step back, refusing the contact.

"The only irony I see here is how you, creature of light and kindness and sappy things, is laughing at me, when it should be the opposite."

"Let's play a game. I'm going to ask a few things and I want you to answer using a single word, without thinking. Okay?"

He shrugged.

"What comes to your mind when I talk about stars? One word."

"Shiny."

"About your birthday? "

"Cake."

"Desert?"

He froze for a second, and she knew she wasn't being fair. But she had to.

"You."

She smiled, ignoring the blushing of her cheeks.

"All those things you mentioned... Are they bad things?"

He smirked, and she could see he was a bit more relaxed. "Well, I wonder about one of them. It looks nice at first, but then you realise it's actually rotten to the core."

She tried to look annoyed, but failed miserably and they both ended up laughing.

"The boy you described to me could have been the Vanitas I met all this time ago. But that's not the one I'm talking to right now. I've seen you smile, I've heard you laugh, and you proved me you knew how to love. How to care. So I want you to put all those feelings down your Keyblade, and to throw a Cure, okay?"

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His posture was good. His blade started shimmering in a green light. Aqua smiled, proud of him. But then, the light faded out before he could cast the spell, and he gave her a sad look.

"Sorry. No matter how hard I try, I'm still mostly made out of negativity. Focusing on good things only for too long isn't something I can do. You never asked, but you wanted to know : that's why the old man always ends up cutting me. I don't learn until my life's on the line."

Aqua thought about these words. He looked so disappointed, so beaten down. He really thought he would have succeeded. She gave him one of her rare own smirks.

"If that's how you learn, then let's try that technique, shall we?"

He opened his arms. "You want to cut me so that I need to heal myself? Would that work?"

"I need you to be focused, and you cannot be focused if your body is in pain. No, Vanitas, the one I'm going to cut..."

She summoned her keyblade and stabbed herself in the stomach before he could react. She winced at the pain while his eyes grew wider.

"Is me. Given the wound, I might pass out in ten minutes, and the blood loss will kill me in around twenty minutes. Please don't let me die."

She collapsed in his arms, chuckling as he panicked.

_If Terra finds out, he might kill me himself._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops. Aqua, don't laugh at other peoples's panic. That's rude. Also, Terra would find a way to blame Vanitas and kill him instead, wouldn't he? v_v


	13. Healing

"Don't you ever do that again!" Vanitas snarled as he shamelessly slapped Aqua.

"Fourteen minutes! That's not bad, you know!"

He was angrily shaking, holding her wrist so tightly it hurt – although she kind of felt it might not be the best time to mention it.

" _You. Could. Have. Died_." He hissed.

"But I did not. You healed me. You were right, you learn faster with lives on the line!"

Quite honestly, he did not exactly save her life, and that was probably the main reason he was angry. After fourteen minutes, two minutes after she passed out, he managed to cast a Cure on her – a weak one, that could probably heal a bruise but not even a cut. That was enough, however, to wake her up, and seeing how panicked and desperate he was (and how painful and close to passing out again she was), she cast a couple of Curagas on herself, healing her wounds. She was really proud of Vanitas, but she could also see how furious he was – and she felt a pinch in her heart.

"Don't you adopt  _his_  methods. You are nothing like him. If you do that again... Don't you see I almost killed you?"

"You did not! Your spell is the reason I -"

"That's not what I'm talking about! Look around you, Aqua!" He interrupted angrily. And she did.

Dozens of red eyes were staring at them. Unversed. A huge, huge amount of Unversed, surrounding them. It took her a moment to understand.

"They came... From your panic? You couldn't control them, is that it?"

"And I'm so angry right now I can't call them back. I'm doing my best so that they don't attack you.  _NO_!" He snapped at a big unversed who stepped towards Aqua. The Unversed backed off immediately, as if it had been hit.

"I have something to tell you, but I cannot be sure whether it will soothe your anger or just makes it worse. So let's make a deal: if it makes things worse, I will leave right away. And you will decide when you think we can meet again. Deal?"

The whole deal probably made him more nervous than he was before, but she wanted to take precautions. And to tell him it was okay to be mad at her.

"Deal."

"Have you ever heard of delayed magic?" Upon his blank look, she went on. "This is a really advanced magic technique, granting its user the ability to delay a spell. The delay time depends on the person, as it requires a lot of strength and magic. I would lie if I said I had mastered it yet, but I've been able to delay some spells for up to thirty minutes."

His expression remained unchanged. She gathered all of her courage.

"Before stabbing myself, I set up a delayed Curaga where I was standing, at exactly twenty minutes. I wouldn't have died. But I needed you to believe I would, or I doubt you would have succeeded."

He looked away. Was he deciding whether he was still angry or not? He massaged his temples for a while.

"So you're telling me that you used a technique that requires a huge amount of strength and magic, that you almost bled yourself to death, and yet managed to cast TWO Curagas, let alone that other delayed one that was probably still pumping through your strength to remain active,  _while dying_?"

"I wouldn't put it that way, but... yes."

"And from the beginning, you knew I wouldn't be able to heal you … Shoot, you knew because there was no way a simple Cure would heal you, and yet you still did that?"

The unversed started growling, and Aqua no longer felt completely safe. She understood he would feel betrayed. She stood up and stepped back.

"Please send Memo when... or if you want to talk to me again, okay? I'm sorry I put you in such a situation... Take care of you."

But when she tried to leave, two massive unversed blocked her way. She clenched her keyblade, unsure whether she should attack or not. She looked back at Vanitas.

The boy vigorously clapped his cheeks and jumped on his feet. He turned to her, and his usual sarcastic face was back. Almost instantaneously, all the unversed, including the ones blocking her way, and even including Memo, turned into a cloud that went back to Vanitas. She could almost hear his teeth gritting while he absorbed all of the Negativity back, but he did not lose his smirk.

"There is no way I would refuse to see you again when I barely know how to heal a papercut! I don't need Memo to tell you that we'd better see each other soon, unless of course you're fine with the idea of me dying because you failed to complete your training!"

Aqua smiled back at him, incredibly relieved he did not hate her.

"Also, delay magic? The reason nobody uses that isn't because it's complicated, it's because it's pretty useless! Tell me, in what kind of fight exactly would you plan an attack _30 minutes_  ahead? That's quite the opposite of a spontaneous fight, if you want to know."

"I guess you're right", she laughed, "but I'm sure that there are times when it can be pretty useful. See, in our situation, it helped!"

"Yeah, but what kind of psycho would  _delay_  a healing spell?  _Oh I know you're in pain but hey just wait for 15 more minutes_! "

"If you have many people to heal, you can delay that spell so that you have time to gather everyone at the same place and heal them all at the same time, using less magic than if you had to heal them one by one!"

He shrugged, unconvinced. "If you say so. I have to go. I'll do my best to practice, but focusing on happy thoughts when you almost died in my arms... A while ago, I would have regarded that as a happy thought, though."

Aqua laughed and came closer to him, giving him a soft kiss on the cheek.

"Perhaps that will help recording today as a happy memory, then."

His grin grew wider, as he put his fingertips on his cheek.

"I guess that could do."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be fair, Vanitas is right. That's some pretty useless spell. But Aqua needed a backup plan x'D


	14. Jaunt

"Are you sure this is right, Aqua? Should we really be here?"

"Of course! I've had the Master's permission, don't you worry."

Aqua couldn't help but smile at Ven's nervousness. He glanced all around, as if Master Eraqus would show up from behind any tree and lecture them.

Of course, she did not tell Ven how hard it had been to actually convince their Master to let Ven leave the Land of Departure. She spent more than an hour arguing with him before he finally agreed.

Aqua could understand the Master's fears. Xehanort had plans for the boy, and Ven wasn't safe anywhere, but by Master Eraqus's side. Vanitas was still around, and if he had proven not to be a threat to Aqua (it took a while for her Master to reluctantly admit that), he would still pretty much be a threat to Ven. She had to promise to never leave Ventus alone, and to flee at the first sign of danger. Ventus's safety was her priority.

"Tell me, Aqua, why did you take me with you, all of a sudden?"

"Well, I don't think it's fair to you that Terra and I get to travel across all those worlds, and come back with plenty of stories to share, while you are training all day long and never get the chance to see any of the wonders we're talking about. I think that it could be a good thing for you to come with us from time to time." She tenderly ruffled his hair and he chuckled, happy.

She couldn't tell the second reason. She couldn't tell him that she spent so much time with Terra and Vanitas she felt she was growing apart from him. She couldn't tell him that she heard Terra's or Vanitas's laugh so many times lately, but had barely even heard his voice at all. She couldn't tell him that even though they were living under the same roof, she was missing her little brother of heart.

Although she did not tell him all of that, faking a smile instead, he grabbed her hand and squeezed it. He gave her a huge smile that melted her heart. He always knew when she was feeling down, and always did his best to cheer her up.

"It's true that you've been really busy, I'm glad I can spend some time with you!"

They cheerfully chattered as they walked on the path to the Castle, pausing their conversation only to destroy the Unversed that showed up. Aqua made sure none of them was actually Memo (Vanitas already showed her that even if Memo was destroyed, he could summon her back at will, but Aqua had grown attached to the tiny creature) and that Ven was able to deal with his Unversed. She happily noted he had gotten much better at sparring and at casting spells – having three teachers did wonders to him.

As Ven destroyed the last creature, they heard someone clapping from behind them. Ven was ready, keyblade in hand, about to jump on the silhouette emerging from the woods. Aqua gently put her own keyblade in front of Ven, preventing him from attacking.

"Good afternoon, Vanitas. It's a pretty lovely day, isn't it?"

Saying she wasn't nervous would be quite a big lie. She knew he would not hurt her, but she wasn't sure how he would react at Ven's presence.

"Look at that! She's taking the kid out, how sweet of her. If you're tired of him, sure, you could abandon him in the forest, but I know another place where it would warm an old man's heart to welcome this child."

"Back off, Vanitas. Tell your Master I am not interested." Ven angrily answered, trying to take a step forward, only to be stopped again by Aqua's blade.

"We do not wish to fight, Vanitas. Can we please go our own way, and you yours?"

"I did not even came to pick a fight. I just wanted to see who was destroying my  _beloved_  pets. I hoped it would be Terra, quite frankly, I've learnt some new skills I'd love to try on him."

This time, Aqua had to catch Ven by the arm to stop him from jumping on Vanitas. Vanitas talking about Aqua was Terra's weak point, but badmouthing Terra was clearly Ventus's.

"But what I've seen today instead is much more interesting than fighting Terra! See you around!" He cackled as he disappeared back into the forest, and Aqua closed her eyes, weighing the mistake she had made. Vanitas would tell Xehanort that Ventus was allowed outside. Which left her with two options: protect Ventus, meaning trapping him once again in the Land of Departure, like a bird in a cage, or hope she would be strong enough to protect him, keeping that from Master Eraqus but putting him in danger. She felt the choice wasn't really hers.

"Aqua? Could we... Could we not tell the Master, please?" She looked at him, surprised, while he was pleading her. "I know you are against lying or hiding stuff from the Master, but... I really enjoyed today. I want to go on missions with you. We haven't talked and laughed like that for months! I don't want to lose you again. So, please?"

She hugged him really tight, and he hugged her back probably even tighter. She buried her head in his messy, spiky hair and laughed.

"Fine. This will stay between you and I. But you have to promise me to be even more careful now. Do not pick fights with Vanitas, and especially not with Master Xehanort. Terra can barely overpower Vanitas, so don't you try."

"He told me already! But he also said he's got a  _huge_  advantage over Vanitas: Terra can heal, while Vanitas always run away if he's severely wounded! So there's no way Terra would ever lose to him!"

Aqua kindly let go of him and ruffled his hair one more time (she could actually do that all day long and he would probably never complain). "You're right... As long as Terra can heal himself, he cannot get dangerously wounded." That was not exactly what Ven had said, but if he noticed, he did not say a word about it and just nodded.

"Let's go home for today, shall we? You were a great help in defeating the unversed, thanks!"

He grinned and tapped his shoulder pad, letting his armour surround his body.

"Let's race! The loser cleans up the dishes for a week!"

Aqua laughed and jumped on her Glider. "Ventus? Never forget that I love you, okay?"

Even with the full armour, she could tell he blushed. "What's with that, all of a sudden...? Of course I'm not going to forget, I love you too! You guys are my best friends, and... Hey, cheater!"

Aqua had taken off and started the race, leaving him behind. But she could hear his laugh behind her, and soon enough, her voice echoed his throughout the whole Lane Between.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is actually my personal favourite of the whole fic. I don't like Ven a lot in canon, but he is a cinnamon roll in this AU. He's caught up in the middle of things he has nothing to do with, and this is really sad.
> 
> I think a drinking game could be made out of this story though : every time Aqua smiles, laughes, ruffles someone's hair, or every time Vanitas grins/smirks, you drink. You'd get drunk in less than 3 minutes I'm sure XD
> 
> Also : "I know you are against lying or hiding stuff from the Master" *personal smirk at Ventus's innocence*


	15. Papercut

Aqua met Vanitas in Neverland two days later, as it was planned. He was waiting in a cave by the Mermaids' lagoon, his book on his lap.

"''ssup?" He greeted her without looking up from the pages, full of drawings of constellations. He was still wearing his helmet, and she wondered if he ever took it off in front of other people. Probably at least in front of Xehanort.

"Hello. How is it going on with the book? Any word you need some help with?"

He closed the book and turned his head right to her. Even with the helmet, she could feel his golden eyes pierce her skin.

"You do  _not_  want to talk about the book, do you? So let's jump straight to the point, shall we?"

She held his gaze (or supposed she was holding it anyway) and took a deep breath.

"Very well. Did you tell your Master that Ven ventured outside?"

"I did. Are you mad at me?"

"I don't know. I am angry, and sad. But probably not at you."

"Then at whom?"

"I'm not sure myself. At fate, who made us rivals. At this world, where Light and Darkness need to fight to keep the balance. Perhaps a bit at our Masters, who refuse to see that peace could exist between our camps. At myself, for having brought yet another danger on Ven. And yes, perhaps at you as well, for being a part of that danger." She sat on the stone, next to him. "I'm just tired. I sometimes wish that we never became friends. I suppose it would be easier."

"Then should we stop being friends? Go back to our fighting and hating routine?" His tone was taunting, but she could hear in his voice that her answer mattered.

"Of course not. That's not of the heart works anyway. I can't just stop loving someone. Whether it's my Master, Ventus, Terra, or you. You all are too precious to lose."

"Looks like having a heart sucks!"

"I guess it does, sometimes." she admitted, as they both softly chuckled.

"But enough with that! Any difficulties with your reading?"

"Nope, so far so good! I don't have much time to read, though." His helmet was slowly fading, showing his sparkling eyes. "But I've had time for something else, though! Gimme your hand!"

She did, curious. He opened the book, took her palm in his hand, and suddenly rubbed one of the pages against her fingers. She felt the prickling of the papercut and winced.

"Vanitas, what exactly are you..."

"Shh, I'm focused here! Keep quiet!"

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and Aqua suddenly recoiled as a dark mist covered her fingers. But Vanitas was holding her hand firmly and he did not let go. After a few seconds, the mist vanished, and so was the papercut.

"I can now use Cure!" He looked so proud she couldn't help but smile, although she could not forget how the spell reeked of Darkness.

"That was... a Cure?"

"Yup! Not like yours, I know. But after a lot of training, I realised that I couldn't make a spell based solely on good feelings. That's not in my nature. So instead, I put into it the memory of pain, the regret that came with it, and how I wanted it to be gone, and I finally managed to pull that up! I'm calling it Dark Cure."

"You had time... To create your own spell?"

"Have you seen who I'm training with? Please. He's given me so many opportunities to use that spell that I eventually figured out what would work. I probably used more Cures in that week than you in your whole life."

Aqua did not know whether to be proud or uneasy by his words. It sounded to natural to him, to have a Master who beat him up.

"Don't make that face! I still need to learn Cura and Curaga. Unless I only fight opponents who kindly graze my skin, there's no way I'd survive someone strong. So let's go back to business! I will have to make up my own Dark Cura I guess, but at least teach me the basics!"

And she did. He repeated the steps a few times, then said he would need to think about how to make the spell his own.

They studied a bit of his book afterwards. He told him about constellations he could now recognize and how different they looked from a world or another. She told him a few legends she knew about some worlds.

When came the time for her to go, he caught her wrist.

"Hey, Aqua. I get what you said, about being angry at this world and at the roles we have to play in it. Still... Still, I'm glad that's how things are, because in other circumstances, I would never have existed, and we would never have been friends."

She softly smiled as she turned her keyblade into a Glider and summoned her armour. She waved him goodbye, hearing his last words as she left.

"But how come I don't want to lose you, when I don't have a heart to start with?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't you worry, Vanitas, this is Kingdom Hearts. Nobody ever understood what a heart was. Seriously, just ask Sora.
> 
> Also, the reason he gave for coming to the Dwarf Woodlands in last chapter was only half true : had it been Terra, he would have enjoyed fighting him, but if it were Aqua, he was planning to tell her about the Cure (but Ven's presence changed his plans). And yes, he told Xehanort about it :( He probably thought Aqua or Ventus would tell Eraqus about that as well. But even if he knew he wouldn't regret it. That's just his job
> 
> By the way, please, if you actually like the story, even a little, leave a review. Reviews are author's fuel, trust me! Let's start 2018 with some love, okay? <3


	16. Eavesdropping

Aqua had spent so much time studying in the library (mostly about the History of various worlds, being a Master meant she had a lot of things to know) that she closed her book long after midnight. She turned the lights out and walked to the kitchen to clean her teacup before going to sleep. On her way, she noticed a ray of light under the door of the lounge (a room filled with comfy sofas where they liked to play cards). She went closer to the door to check if someone was in there of if they just forgot to switch the lights off, but froze when she heard her name.

She could hear Terra and Ventus in there. She usually strongly disapproved eavesdropping, but she also heard Vanitas's name, and she couldn't just ignore them, or join them. So she sat next to the door, guilt and curiosity mixed in her mind.

"But you, Terra, how do you feel about her and Vanitas being... friends?"

"I don't know. That's pretty much like her, you know. She's just always so kind with everyone, and she sees the good in every soul. I can't even say I'm surprised, honestly!"

Ven laughed. "I guess you're right. But sill, do  _you_  believe it, that there is some good in him? I can get she does not hate him, but to befriend him?"

"I've never seen her coming back hurt, quite frankly. To be fair, I think we are hurting her more than he does. I don't like him, but perhaps her magic with people just works with him as well. And who knows? If we trust him, he might turn into an ally one day."

"Do you really believe that, Terra?" Ven sounded dubious. Aqua couldn't help but smile.

"I wish I could. But for now, I still cannot trust him. Also, the Master's order are pretty clear when it comes to Vanitas..."

"But Aqua, she's... We can pretend we don't know, but we do. She's still seeing him. She can try to hide it, but there are times when she leaves for a world for half a day, sometimes more. I never thought... I never thought she would hide stuff from the Master. Or from us."

"If only you knew... Let me tell you a story, Ven. A story of how Aqua, no matter how pure and kind and everything she is, disobeyed Master Eraqus's orders and got us into probably the biggest mess ever."

Aqua buried her head in her hands. She knew the story he was about to tell. Oh dear, she knew exactly which one it was.

"It happened a few years ago, before you joined us. It was Aqua's 15th birthday, and she had wanted more than anything to visit another world. Which one did not matter, she just wanted to get out of this place for a day. But the Master refused, because she was still young, immature, and travelling through the Lanes Between was incredibly dangerous. The Master had a meeting with Master Yen Sid and left us alone. We were old enough to deal with ourselves for a couple of days, he said. He opened the Lanes Between to go to Master Yen Sid and left. An hour after he was gone, she came to my room, her armour on, and asked me if I wanted to know what was outside, in the sky. I told her the Master forbade us to leave, but nothing I could say would change her mind: she would go, with, or without me. I tagged along, partly because it would be safer to travel in groups, but also because I was curious as well. I was so terrified the Master would find us out... But she laughed it off and said that he wouldn't know.

"Nothing happened in our travel through space. We landed in a forest that was beautiful. I don't think I've even seen her happier than that day: she took off her armour, her shoes, and was running barefooted all over the place, laughing and dancing. I was a lot uneasier than her, still worried about the Master.

"And then, a wild boar appeared out of nowhere and charged us. I summoned my keyblade, wanting to defend ourselves, but she yelled at me not to hurt the animal – we were the foreigners here and we had no right to hurt anything. So instead, we climbed up a tree and waited for three hours for it to leave. She still had no shoes, and her feet were bleeding, cut by the tree trunk. After the animal was gone, we decided it was time to come back home. When we did... Master Eraqus was waiting for us. You've never seen him that angry, Ven, and I swear you don't want to see that. I was grounded, but Aqua told him she would be taking the whole responsibility for that and that she did not feel any regret for disobeying. She had to clean the whole castle, was not allowed out of her room but for meals, training and chores, and she was not allowed to speak with me until she had apologized to the Master."

Ven whistled. "And she did?"

"A month later, she apologized for worrying the Master and for putting me in danger. But she never to this day apologized for disobeying."

Aqua was embarrassed. She did not want Ven to find out about this story, ever.

"See, Ventus, Aqua is not the docile and obedient child people tend to think she is. She does what she seems right to her. She usually follows the Master's orders because she finds them fair. But she is a free soul, you cannot lock her up or force her to do things against her will. I think this is why she finds Vanitas's company enjoyable: he is probably more free than us, he questions things. He's not on our side, but I don't think he blindly obeys Master Xehanort either. They are breaking rules just by talking to each other, but that's probably how she remembers she is actually free."

Aqua had to stop herself from rushing into the room and throw her arms around Terra. She had never known he knew her so well. It even appeared he understood things about her, and about her relationship with Vanitas, that she had not understood yet herself.

She quietly stood up and went to the kitchen to wash her cup. When she went to sleep, the boys were done talking and back to their respective rooms.

She stood in front of the door for a whole minute, hesitating, and then knocked. A groan answered to her and she slowly opened the door.

"Hey Terra. I have troubles sleeping. Do you think I could...?"

He looked at her for a few seconds, before tenderly smiling. "Sure. Come over."

She shyly lied down next to him, like they would do when they were younger. She knew they were too old for that, but she didn't care. Just like he had said : she was free.

He pulled the blanket over her, and soon enough she was actually asleep, cuddling up next to him, letting his familiar scent bring her back to that tree where they waited for three hours in each other's arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, I could finally put some more of my headcanon: Aqua is actually a thug! ... Well, she isn't, she's still Mama Aqua and I do love her, but I didn't want her to be just the docile girl people think she is. She had to be more than that.  
> Also, random trivia : back then, they were in Bambi's world. This information is pretty useless, but here, you know.


	17. Snow

When Aqua set foot in the Enchanted Dominion, she was glad she took her scarf with her – a pretty blue scarf that Terra gave to her for her last birthday. The place was covered with snow, and she missed the grass already. Out of the four seasons, Winter was her least favourite – mostly because the few bad things in her life happened in winter. She kicked those dark thoughts out of her head : Vanitas was waiting for her, sitting on the snow. Aqua wondered if his dark suit protected him from the cold, and then remembered that time, oh so long ago, when he had shivered because of the cool wind.

"You will catch a cold sitting there."

"I was tired of standing. So I sat."

"But isn't it... Wet, or cold?"

"Both." He stretched and stood up. "But I don't mind. That's the second time in my life I see snow. Surely I can endure the cold."

"Let's not find out. Here, take my scarf."

She made a mental note to give him one of his own next time. Ven had plenty he never ( _ever_ ) used, so he wouldn't notice if one went missing. But for today, she tied hers ( _her precious scarf_ ) around his neck. He did not complain.

"How are you doing, Vanitas?"

"Same as usual. Part of me wants to destroy the world, part of me wants to dominate it. Usual stuff. What about you ?"

She gave him a warm smile. "Part of me wants to save the world from you, and part of me actually hopes you are just kidding. Nothing unusual here either. How is your training going?"

He shrugged. "See for yourself."

Using his blade, he made a cut in the palm of his hand, then cast a Cura.

Aqua couldn't help but shiver when the Dark Mist emerged. She would never get used to it, to how  _evil_  it felt. And when the mist faded away, the cut was still there – not so deep, and almost not bleeding anymore, but still open.

"I still need to figure out how to balance everything to make it work correctly. Too much negativity and it won't work, too much positivity and it will be too weak. But the old man is giving me plenty of occasions to train, as usual, so I'm learning fast!"

Aqua didn't know if she should regard that as good or bad news, so she gave him an unconvinced smile. "As long as you are getting better, that's fine... I suppose?"

"But hey, I've learnt a new trick, wanna see?"

"Of course!" She answered, deeply interested.

"Cool! Close your eyes for ten seconds. I don't want to ruin the surprise while I set it up."

She kindly obeyed, curious. She should have known. Had it been Ventus, she  _would_  have known even before it crossed his mind. But her trust in Vanitas blinded her.

She realized her mistake too late, when something cold and wet crashed on her face. She opened her eyes to see Vanitas preparing a bunch of other snowballs.

"That is not a game you want to play with me, Vanitas..." She warned as she used an Aerora to gather a lot of snow above her head to project it right to him.

"You used magic! Cheater!" He sounded so much like Ventus at that precise moment that she indulged him a tender smile... And was welcomed once again with a snowball on the face. He was good at aiming.

What followed could be described as a snow war. They both mixed up magic in their attacks and ended up soaking wet, freezing, out of breath, but with sparkling eyes that betrayed the fun they were having.

"I need to go back now. I was supposed to get rid of Unversed around here, I don't even know how I'm going to justify how wet I am right now."

"You saw a poor kitten drowning and you jumped into the river to save it. That is so much like you that no one would ever doubt that, would they?"

Aqua let a clear laugh out. "I think they would question it, yes. But no worries, I'll find something. Next time I'll bring another book, okay?"

He nodded and she jumped on her Glider. She was excited to go home and tell Terra and Ven about the snow. She hoped they could come here, the three of us, and enjoy the snow (she still did not like it very much, but being with people she loved made it enjoyable). She waved goodbye at Vanitas and then was gone.

* * *

He watched her go and stayed put for a while, catching his breath. He realized she had forgotten her scarf and he chuckled. He heard a soft noise behind him – muffled by the snow, but still audible for his trained ears.

"Well, well, my boy, care to explain me what that happy scene was?"

He tensed right away at the voice of his Master. How much did he see? There was no telling.

"What did it look like?" He lost his cheerful expression, going back to his usual sarcastic grin. His posture completely changed as well.

"It looked like you and the sweet little Master Aqua were having quite a good time. That is... Interesting to know."

Vanitas smirked. "Yeah, well, I'm just doing my homeworks."

"Homeworks?"

"I've been hanging out with her for almost a year. She now completely trusts me. Terra does not, but he doesn't want to hurt her and he's somehow leaving me alone. She's even teaching me what I require to beat him. And soon, she will be confident enough to bring Ventus along. Can't you see what is going on? I'm bringing you the vessel you wished for, and the missing piece to the X-Blade. So could you please don't ruin everything? I worked too hard to see you destroy it all."

Xehanort smirked. "Am I supposed to believe you? You sure looked like you were having fun right now."

"Come on. You extracted that heart from Ventus yourself. You know me better than anyone. You had  _to send Ventus away_  so that I wouldn't kill him. So now, tell me : do you really believe there is anything good in me?" His face switched back to his cheerful, boyish face. "This is the boy she is watching mature into someone with actual feelings. This is the boy she enjoys spending time with, and who she even thinks is in love with her" He fluttered his eyelashes with a pure expression, before going back to his hostile attitude. "She is dumb enough... No, she is so desperate to see some good in everyone that she wants to believe that. But to think that  _you_  would get fooled... That's more than what I expected. I might even have hidden it from you right now, but I don't want you to use me as a bait and torture me."

Xehanort nodded. "I hope you will prove yourself to be trustworthy, Vanitas."

"You were right about one thing though: I was having fun right now. She's dumb and easy to trick, but who doesn't like a good snowball fight? And when she teaches me about the stars and everything, that's still interesting. There's no denying it : she is probably a better Master than you. But I won't have any remorse stabbing her in the back when the time will come. Remorses are for losers. And I am a winner : I just seize every single opportunity."

Xehanort opened a dark corridor and made his way to the darkness. Vanitas put his helmet on, not before throwing the scarf away and stepping on it with his dirty sole.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't we all love a cute chapter with snow? :3


	18. Scarf

They met in the Dwarf Woodlands a week later. Although there was no snow there, the wind was cold and biting, and Aqua had switched her usual outfit for a dress with long sleeves, some wool tights and a long warm coat. She outfit was practical enough for her to fight, but it also complimented her silhouette. She noticed Vanitas couldn't get his eyes out of the scarf tied around her neck: the warm, blue scarf she had lent him last time. She smiled as she mindlessly touched the soft fabric.

"I forgot to get it back last time. I figured out you wouldn't go back to your Master with it around your neck, so I went back to see if you had left it there. I don't know where you had put it, but the wind took it away. It eventually got stuck in a tree. You should have seen in what state it was" she shook her head in desolation, "I don't know what happened, but it looked like someone stepped on it, it was all dirty. But nothing I couldn't wash! And I have something for you as well! Close your eyes!"

He did, and she tied the scarf she brought for him around his neck. She first wanted to take one of Ven's, but she ended up making one for him instead. Feeling the fabric touching his skin, he opened his eyes to have a look at it.

"It's been a while since I've knitted anything, but I think it looks fairly good! I'm sorry, I did not know what colour you liked, so this might be a bit... not original."

The center of the scarf was black, and it slowly turned into red. Some few golden threads were braided here and there, prettily reflecting the light.

"It looks great, and I mean it. I'm sorry about what happened to your scarf."

She dismissed it with a laugh. "Don't be, it's not your fault! You couldn't exactly..." She stopped and gasped, her hand covering her mouth. "I'm stupid. You couldn't go back to Master Xehanort with it, and here I am, giving another one to you! I can't believe I'm so stupid!"

She was feeling terribly bad. She should have remembered that detail, and found something else. Perhaps trying to create a minor Fira spell, that would keep people warm without burning them? She would work on that. Giving him a scarf, how silly of her!

He grabbed her by the shoulders, interrupting her thoughts.

"Aqua, it's okay. Really. I'm keeping it. I will pretend I stole it somewhere, and I'm sure he's not going to question it. I like it. I'm not going to throw that away. You wouldn't want me to catch a cold, would you?" He smirked, and her heart calmed down a bit.

"I don't want to get you into trouble. Are you sure this is fine?"

He gave her a nice, gentle punch in the jaw and gave her his brightest smile. "This is fine. I might even steal a coat as well, now that I think of it. It will make my story easier to believe, and I'll be warmer. Win win."

"Okay then. If you can promise it won't put you in a difficult posture..." She sighed and brought her smile back. "I brought some new books. Is there anything you'd like to read?"

She laid out the three books in front of him. He deciphered the titles (quite quickly, she proudly noticed) and looked at her.

"What are they talking about?"

"This one is a fairytale book. It contains many stories who might even be the actual history of worlds out there. I've read it so many times when I was younger I might not even need it anymore to read the stories. Master Eraqus would read it to me every time I couldn't fall asleep." Her eyes were sparkling, and she noticed he wasn't looking at the book but at her. Her cheeks turned pink as she took the second book.

"This one is an adventurer journal. There is no information about when or where he lived, but he traveled between the worlds and tells all the adventures he had there. The book is full of drawings and sidenotes, and he talks about so many worlds I've never heard about anywhere else! When I was younger, he was my hero, and I wanted to become just like him."

She sneezed. The tip of her frostbitten nose was turning red, and Vanitas chuckled.

"I don't think you'll read anything here today. Unless you want to be stuck in your bed with a fever forever, that is."

His words made their way to her brain, until her face lightened up.

"I know! Master Eraqus isn't there today. I'd rather not display the details to you, for reasons you might understand. But that means we can go in my room to read! It should be safe."

Vanitas raised an eyebrow. "Safe? I hardly doubt it... But I like to live dangerously. Race you there?"

"No way, your portals are faster than my Glider!"

"Then how about I take you through the corridor?" His voice was serious, and so was his face. Aqua shivered.

"I'm not sure I... I don't think it would be safe for me."

"It wouldn't if you were alone. But don't forget who's with you! And you took one to go to that desert last time, did you forget?"

He opened a dark corridor behind him and jumped on his feet. Aqua looked at it, uneasy, feeling the threat from Darkness itself for the first in a long time. Last time, she was blindfolded and had not exactly realized they were in the Darkness. Today, she knew. Vanitas held his hand out to her.

"Two rules. One, put your armour on. Two, don't let go of my hand. If you follow these two rules, you have nothing to fear, and we will be there in less than five minutes."

Aqua carefully followed the two rules. The darkness was threatening, she was scared and on the verge of a panic attack, but nothing happened. They just walked on a dark path, surrounded by dark mist, and creatures with yellow eyes would stare at them without coming closer.

She still let a sigh out when she stepped into her room, thinking of how she would rather never go into the Darkness again. That feeling of being prisoner of the dark...

"That was... Something. Pretty stressful, I'll admit." she said as she removed her armour and took her coat off. Vanitas was already sitting on her bed, balancing his feet.

"What about the third book?"

She smiled.

"Well, you see, this one tells the story of a young boy..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What should be remembered from this chapter? "It's okay I'm gonna pretend I stole the scarf and I will steal other stuff too" "Oh okay I am happy about that Vanitas"  
> Aqua's moral code is getting worse at every chapter xDD


	19. Cold

Aqua had spent four days stuck in her bed. Her throat was painful, her head ached so much, and she was almost too weak to even get up. The fever would not leave her body no matter the medicines and the spells she used, and she was tired. But she was also suffocating, prisoner of her room by her own body. She needed some fresh air.

"Woah there, running away, aren't you?" She had barely reached the middle of the corridor when she heard Terra's voice behind her.

"I can't... I need to... Breathe." She answered, fever making it hard to form proper sentences.

"That I can understand. Do you mind if I accompany you, then?"

She shook her head and he beamed at her. "Give me a second then!"

He disappeared into his room, then into hers, and when he came back, he wrapped her in layers of coats, scarves, put her some gloves and even some earcuffs. After looking at her for a second, he nodded. "That way, you won't catch any cold."

"I already have a cold, Terra."

"Then you won't catch two colds."

Aqua started to laugh, until it turned to a terrible cough. Terra, dropping the cool face to a worried one, rushed to help her stay on her feet.

"Sorry. No more jokes, I promise. I'll leave them to Ven. Let's take you outside now! Come on, jump in!"

He kneeled in front of her, offering his back, and it took her a while to get it. "You want... Piggyback."

He grinned. "You never complained when we were younger, did you? Are you going to complain now?"

She wrapped her arms around his neck and let him lift her up. When they were kids, he would carry her and then run around the castle – he pretended it would make him grow stronger. Given how broad and muscular his back was now, Aqua thought it might actually have worked.

He carried her to a bench outside, on the top of the hill. The wind was chilly, but thanks to all the layers he had put on her, she barely felt it.

"Oh, Aqua, guess what I found in the bottom of a box in my room? I thought it might cheer you up." He took an old book from his pocket.

"Oh my, Terra, is that...?"

"You've got it. The apology book. I can't believe I still had it."

It was an idea Master Eraqus came up with when his students were still kids. They got along fairly well, but they would sometimes fight and be angry at each other. As a punition, they would have to write down on this book a word of apology and add something nice about the other one, and then read it out loud. It did wonders – it was so embarrassing they made sure to fight as little as possible.

"Want me to do some reading?"

Aqua's eyes sparkled – mostly because of the fever, but also with excitement. She put her head on Terra's shoulder, listening.

"March 24th. I'm sorry I called Aqua... Oh no this is so embarrassing. I don't want to remember that, actually."

"What did you call me again?"

"I'm sorry I called Aqua an ugly moron. She is not that ugly and she is clever."

Aqua held out her laughter, not wanting the painful cough to come back. " _She's not that ugly_? That was your conception of something nice?"

"Aqua, I was eight. I'm sure that's the nicest thing I was able to tell back then."

"Keep on reading."

"August 1st. I'm sorry I broke Aqua's doll. She is my friend and I was jealous she wouldn't play with me. But she is still my best friend and I don't want her to be angry at me."

Aqua squeezed Terra's hand in her gloved hand.

"I remember that. I really liked that doll, you know. But it's okay, I liked you better. I think.

"What? If I recall correctly, that doll was terrifying. I still see it on my nightmares sometimes."

"That's payback. Read me something else. The last entry."

Terra flipped through the pages, until the last one.

"I was probably sixteen then, I guess?"

"Sixteen? Terra, the Master stopped using that when we were around twelve... You kept on writing in it?"

"I guess I did. That helped when I said horrible stuff to you but was too proud to apologize."

"Read it. Please."

"October 23rd. I'm the worst. I broke Aqua's necklace by accident. It was her mother's. She spent three days locked in her room and she won't talk to me. I..."

He stopped reading, and Aqua lifted her eyes to him.

"I remember. I wasn't really angry at you, though. I was repairing it. I was so focused I kind of ignored anyone talking to me. But there's more, isn't it? You have not read the compliment yet. I'm waiting. What compliment would 16-year-old Terra say about me?"

Terra took a deep breath.

"She won't talk to me. I want to hold her in my arms and apologize for everything, because she's the one I love."

They remained silent for a while. Then Aqua squeezed his hand again.

"If only you had told me that then... Things would have been easier, wouldn't they? I wish it was that simple now."

Terra put his arm around her shoulders and rested his head against hers.

"That's my punition for being so slow... But I waited for you for so long, I can wait longer if needed. No matter what, you're still my best friend, and loving you as such is more than enough."

She closed her eyes, smiling behind her scarf.

When she opened them again, she was back in her room, a bowl of warm soup on the bedside table. Her coat and scarf were carefully folded on her chair.

She rubbed her sleepy eyes, taking in a deep breath.

She was feeling better already.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry not sorry for Terra's joke. That might have been terribly OOC but that's the kind of stupid humour I have xD  
> Now that this chapter is out, let me tell you that I'm working on a fic about these apology books. Don't know if I will finish it or not, hopefully I will! (Yeah I actually have several BBS stuff to publish :D )


	20. Recovering

"Aqua, it's been three weeks. I could have died and you wouldn't even have known! Actually, I even came this close to dying."

"So you did?" She absent mindedly said, absorbed in her book. She was in the Castle of Dream, taking a break after defeating an enormous Unversed that had been threatening Cinderella. Vanitas appeared at a crucial point of her book and she couldn't just stop reading.

"You don't care, do you?"

"The thing I care about right now, Vanitas, is whether Inej is going to have her leg broken or not. Can you give me a minute please?"

"What? Who's that? If I break her leg myself, will you listen to me?"

Aqua sighed and closed her book.

"Vanitas. I appreciate you. Believe me, I really do, and there isn't a single day when I don't feel bad because we are not on the same side.  _But_  you need to understand that I don't have to give you  _all_  my attention every time we are together. There are times when I need some quiet. Please."

He shrugged. "Your book is closed now anyway, so your attention is now fully available!"

She massaged her temples. She knew she couldn't start his whole education over. She'd better let it go.

"Fine. What was that story about almost dying?"

He smirked. "So now you care? Well, you see, after the last time we met, it felt like my head was about to explode, there was a fire in my lungs and I could barely sleep, not matter how many Cura I'd cast on myself."

Aqua chuckled. "Same here. That was quite some cold we caught. It took me a whole week to get better, and then Terra and Ven got sick as well and I had to help the Master take care of them, and we've been really busy for so long that you had plenty of time to spread Unversed all over the worlds and it took a while to... regulate that. What is even the purpose of that? You create Unversed, we destroy them.  _We_  are saving the worlds. But what is  _your_  point exactly?"

Vanitas pouted. "So you don't want to hear my story of how I vanquished the fire in my lungs."

"It was a cold, Vanitas. I suppose you took some medicines and... Wait, Master Xehanort  _did_  give you some medicines, right? He took care of you?"

Vanitas gave her a sarcastic glare and she put her book down, all her attention turned to him.

"Okay. Tell me that story."

"He told me that if I couldn't fight that by myself, I was worthless. I've been struggling for two days, unable to stand up, to walk, even to cast any spell at all. I kept on creating Unversed that I could not control ; the old man simply opened portals to free them on the worlds. I was on the verge of losing consciousness when an Unversed came back to me. Care to guess who?"

Tiny ears wriggled behind him, and the Unversed bounced right to Aqua's lap.

"Well, hello there, pretty you! It's been a while!" Aqua hugged the creature that squeaked of happiness.

"Can't believe you react that way to her but blandly ignored me. Anyway. She came back with a Hi-Potion. You really have a poor influence on my Unversed, you know that? You turned Memo...  _good_." He said the last word with disdain. "The Hi-Potion kept me alive, but that wasn't enough. So Memo would run to every world through my Master's portals, and she would bring me back not only potions, but also berries, fruits, any kind of food she could find. It gave me the strength to cast Curas, but... that wasn't enough. The pain in my head gave me hallucinations. And then, Memo started to bring some pills. I'm guessing where she got them from, but... She shouldn't have been able to. That's the only place the old man isn't opening portals to. But I must say, that was pretty effective, and after two weeks of intolerable pain, I was back on my feet!"

Aqua patted Memo's head.

"Good girl. I'm proud of you. You are the first Unversed I know to save a life! You did well. You are the one who stole the pills from my room, then? I should tell you that stealing is not okay, but... That was an exceptional situation. How did you get in there, though?"

Memo squeaked, and Aqua smiled. She was glad Vanitas was okay, but if his Unversed could come freely to her world, that was an issue. She noticed the blue ribbon tied around the creature's neck.

"That ribbon... That's the one I put to her! Doesn't it disappear every time you summon her back? Do you put it back every time?"

Vanitas furrowed his eyebrows, thinking. "No. Quite frankly I never noticed you tied that around her neck."

"That was so that she could be recognized..." Aqua blushed. "Terra promised not to hurt her."

It got her wondering, though. What if that ribbon was what allowed Memo to travel to her world? That was a bit far-fetched, but perhaps that built a kind of connection.

"Anyway, you're safe now, that's all that matters. How is your magic training doing?"

Vanitas sat next to her and started showing the progress he made. They talked until night fell and it was time for Aqua to leave.

"Oh, one last thing, Vanitas!"

She kissed him on the cheek.

"I'm happy you did not die."

And from the bottom of her heart, she was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Although she's still annoyed she doesn't know the end of her chapter. Don't interrupt someone reading, even if it is to tell them the story of how you almost die, people! Books are important stuff!  
> (don't we all hate that person coming up when you are completely immersed in your book and who goes "oh what are you reading what is it about?" LET ME READ IN PEACE RANDOM PERSON [no, just me? Oh okay.] )
> 
> Also, side note : I'M FINALLY UP TO DATE! FFNet & AO3 are at the same SP chapter. Hurray! I will post 21 tomorrow on both sites :D


	21. Identity

* * *

"Can I ask you something?"

It took Aqua all the self control in the world not to scream when Vanitas appeared in her room early in the morning. She was back from her post-jogging shower and she was drying her hair with her towel.

"Nice shirt, by the way." He added with a smirk. She was wearing a simple oversized shirt that fell right under her butt and glared at his appreciation look.

"I wasn't really expecting anyone. I know you can't show up just anywhere, but... Can we agree on a time slot when it is okay for you to come here?"

Vanitas ignored her and sat on her bed, staring at the wall, suddenly silent. She followed her gaze to a picture pinned on the wall, of Terra and her dressed up as a Prince and a Princess when she was seven.

"Vanitas? What is it you wanted to talk about?"

He turned his eyes to her. She shivered as the seriousness of his face.

"If you had to describe me, what would you say?"

"What?"

"I want to know what you think of me. I... I need to know." At these last words, he escaped her gaze and stared at the floor instead.

"Fine. But I will be honest. I won't say only the good things. Is that fine with you?"

"That's exactly what I want you to do."

She sat on the chair facing him and took a while to think.

"I would say... You are impulsive and poorly educated. You have no idea of what it right or wrong, you are often terribly rude and you don't care about it. You care about me, but in a selfish way, you hate that you have to share me, and even when you don't say it I can see how jealous you are whenever I talk about Ventus or especially about Terra.

You also have a very low image of yourself. You value your fighting skills, but you don't think you are worth being loved. You have been alone for so long you don't know what it means to have someone by your side. You don't know how to express what you are feeling, and you always relied on your unversed to convey your feelings. That day when it all began, in the clearing, I don't think you trusted me. I think you were just so tired of your life that you did not really care if I killed you or not. When Terra and Master Eraqus tried to kill you, you did not care either. You do not value your life, because you think there is nothing but negativity in it.

But there is also some good in you. When you started learning about the stars, you were genuinely excited. You really look happy whenever you see me. You are always looking forward to our next meeting. The day I stabbed myself, you were terrified, and I know you learnt how to value one's life. And you learnt to value yours too, even though you did not notice. You accused me of corrupting your unversed, but you are the only one who can control them. Memo saved you from your cold, because you did not want to die. There is hope in you.

You will never be Terra. You will never be Ventus. But you are someone so much more important. You are yourself. I don't want another Terra. I don't want another Ventus. I want you as yourself, Vanitas. No one else."

All the words came straight from her heart. When he finally looked up from the ground, she could see some emotion in his eyes. Had she worn something a bit more appropriate, she probably would have hugged him.

"That boy you described. Would you trust him enough to put your life in his hands?"

She smiled. "I already did, remember?"

"No. You cheated that day."

"Yes. I would entrust him my life."

"And would you entrust him the life of your friends as well?"

She fell silent at this question. After thinking about it, she came with the best answer she could think of. "No. Because I do not own their lives. It is up to them to entrust them to whoever they wish."

"Would you trust him, no matter what, no matter who is Master is?"

"I am not my Master. He is not his."

"And even though he's working on the worlds destruction, planning to hurt those you love, and destroy everything you ever knew... Would you still be able to love him?"

She stood up and caressed his cheek from the tips of her fingers.

"Love is a strange thing. I think once you started loving someone, you can never stop. This is why love is such a strong and painful feeling. It's a light that can never go out."

He took her hand, and for a minute, two, then five, they did not move. Him, sitting on her bed, her, standing in front of him, her hand locked in his.

"You never make things easy, do you?" He finally chuckled as he slowly stood up. "You actually made them really complicated now." He mumbled.

"Vanitas? Is there anything wrong?"

He opened a Corridor of Darkness and put his helmet back on. "We're talking about me. Everything is always wrong."

"You know you can talk to me about anything. I will listen. Don't keep it all for yourself."

He raised his hand towards her face, but stopped before touching her, letting his arm fall.

"There are things you don't want to know, Aqua. And you will soon learn how much of a burden love really is. Yours... And mine as well."

On his mysterious words, he was gone, leaving Aqua alone in her room, her brain doing her best to understand what he meant.

* * *

** Bonus **

Tired of thinking over and over Vanitas's words, Aqua decided it was time for a tea. She left her room for the kitchen, where Terra was already there, drinking his cup of coffee.

Spitting his cup of coffee would be more accurate, given how he drowned himself in the dark liquid.

"Terra, is everything alright?" Aqua asked, coming closer to pat his back.

His face was crimson, probably due to the coughing.

"Aqua, you... That's..."

"Calm down first, okay? Breathe in and out. There. Better?"

Although the coffee was now out of his lungs and he was breathing correctly, his face remained the same colour, and he was doing his best not to look at her. She worried. Did he break one of her things again and could not face her?

"Terra, the sooner you tell me, the sooner it's over."

"Good morning Terra! Good morning Aqua!"

"Good morning Ventus! Did you sleep well?"

"Like a baby! What's going on, Terra? Your face is all red! Woah, Aqua!"

Aqua turned to him, fists on the hips.

"What was that Woah for? Will someone tell me what is wrong?"

Ventus started giggling. "Is it a special day? Like 'no trousers day' or something?"

Aqua looked down, and cursed. She never did. It was probably the third time in her life she allowed herself to be rude, but that was worth it.

So distracted by Vanitas's word, she had forgotten to get properly dressed. She was still wearing her shirt that was way too short to be a decent dress, in the middle of the kitchen, in front of her two best friends.

She suddenly wanted to go back to sleep and to never, ever wake up again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed the chapter & the bonus! [I was sure I saved this as a draft but I somehow lost that draft. Darn.]  
> There was a tiny bit of fanservice in there, Vanitas won't complain about that 8D [and neither will Terra... Meanwhile Ventus is too pure XD]  
> I thought adding a bit of humour would lighten up a bit the chapter :D


	22. Anniversary

“Can we go now? Please? Pleaaaase?”

Ven could not stay put. He was running all over the place, and Aqua sighed as she tried to finish her cup of tea.

“Ventus. I said we would go after breakfast.”

“I know! I finished mine an hour ago!”

“Just because  _ you _ woke up earlier does not mean that I did too. We will go after  _ my _ breakfast.”

“You're almost done, aren't you? Your cup is almost empty! Gulp it down and then we will humpf-”

Ven's words were stopped by Terra's hand on his mouth. “Now, now, Ven, if you annoy her, she won't take you anywhere. So sit down and wait.”

“Thank you, Terra.”

“At your service. But you're sure you don't need me to come with you guys?”

“That is kind of you, but I'm sure we can manage on our own. The Master said he needed you to stay here for some extra training anyway. We're going to a market, Terra. Not to a battlefield.”

He sighed. “I know, but what if... I don't like the idea of Ven outside. That's still dangerous for him.”

“As is boredom. Don't you worry, I can keep an eye on him. Did before, and always will.”

She winked at them and Terra sighed again. “Fine. Enjoy.”

“We will. Okay Ven, I'm done. Let's go!”

She laughed as the boy jumped on his feet and rushed outside. Aqua was taking him to Agrabah, which market was widely renowned for the variety of things that could be found. Tomorrow would be the anniversary of that starry night Vanitas and she started becoming friends, and she wanted to find him something to celebrate. Keeping that reason secret, she offered the Master to take Ven with her – they went out a few times already and nothing ever happened.

“Helmet on, and... Off we go!”

They flew for almost an hour. Agrabah was quite far away. They landed in the Desert, where no one would notice them, and Aqua remembered the day Vanitas took her here. She remembered the stars, the fingers intertwined, the kiss. She mindlessly smiled.

“Aqua? What is it?”

“Nothing. Let's go into town!”

Ven cheerfully skipped all the way to the huge market held into the town.

Aqua was marveled by how big it actually was. There was a stall for everything. Colourful flowers, tasteful spices, everything was beautiful. She stopped in front of a stand selling some leather wristbands, thinking Terra would probably love them. She might as well buy him a souvenir, as an apology for not taking him with them. She glanced over her shoulder, and Ven was drooling over a stand selling some local pastries. She bought the wristband and joined him.

“Here. Some money to spend. You don't have to spend all of it, okay? But if you see something nice you can get it.” She winked at him and he flew into her arms.

“You're the best, Aqua! I'm taking this cake, and this one, and this...” Aqua laughed and ruffled his hair. “Take your time, but stay around. Don't leave the market without me. Let's meet up in an hour, okay?”

She left him at his cakes and started looking for a present for Vanitas. She would probably have to get him something to eat as well – anything material would be noticed. She already went too far with the scarf.

She stopped at a delicious looking cake. It was covered with chocolate, whipped cream and cherries. She looked at the merchant.

“Can I have this cake, please?”

“A Black Forest? Excellent choice, miss! This is one of the tastiest cake you'll ever have in your life. The chocolate will melt in your mouth while the cherry will explode, for the sheer pleasure of your tasting buds.”

“I can't wait to taste it, then. I guess it's best to keep it somewhere cool?”

“Yes, yes, but don't you worry, our packaging will keep it cool until you can store it in a cold place!”

Aqua paid the merchant and put the box in the bag she had brought.

She looked around for a little time, wandering through the stalls. She bought her Master a notebook with a handpainted cover, and she even allowed a woman to henna her hands, painting some intricate painting on the back of her hands.

Seeing how high the sun was in the sky, she went back to the meeting point. Ven wasn't there. Of course, she anticipated he would be late. But after thirty minutes, she started to worry. She asked the merchants around.

“The young fella who bought so much cake? Yes, he followed someone outside the town! Just go this way. I hope you will find him, it's not safe in the desert at that time of the day!”

She ran towards the door of the city. She had forbidden him to leave. What was he thinking? Who was he following?

There wasn't anyone on the direct outskirts of the city, but she could see from afar what looked like spells. Someone was casting Magic. Which probably meant a fight. She jumped on her glider and flew all the way to that place.

It was what she had feared. Vanitas and Ventus. Fighting. And Ventus was  _ not _ winning. He was kneeling on the sand, merely protecting himself.

“Ven! No!” She shouted, almost as a reflex. It distracted Ventus. Not Vanitas. The brunette opened a dark corridor and Aqua hoped he would just run away.

Oh, yes, he did.

But not before shoving Ventus through the portal.

And not before waving at her, his helmet reflecting her mortified reflection.

“See you later, Aqua.”

Tomorrow would be the first anniversary of their friendship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kept a "calendar" to keep track on the weeks in this fic, as I really wanted that anniversary to happen. After a year of relative peace, things are reaching a point of no going back...  
> And the story is entering its final arc.


	23. Smashed

Perhaps the cake was delicious indeed. But now, only the wall would be able to tell, as Aqua had violently thrown it, smashing in on the pure white wall of the kitchen.

"Aqua, I need you to calm down and to explain what happened. Please."

Seeing Aqua furious was something fairly rare, and neither Eraqus or Terra knew how to calm her down. All they knew was that Ven was not with her anymore, and all she said was that she had been stupid. She'd been repeating it for the last 20 minutes, since she came back alone.

"Aqua. We can't help Ven if we don't know. And we won't know if you don't tell."

Aqua closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"I told him not to leave the market. I shouldn't have left him alone. I shouldn't. All of that, this is all of my fault. When I came back, he wasn't there. I should have started looking for him then, I shouldn't have waited! I thought he was just late. Stupid, stupid! By the time I found him, it was too late. He..." She broke down, and Terra wrapped his arms around her instantly.

"Was it Vanitas?"

Of course Terra knew. He probably had known the second she did not tell the story. He had known the second he saw her face. He had known even before Vanitas took Ven away, because he did not trust him and she did.

"They were fighting." She sobbed. "They were fighting and Ven was losing and Vanitas took him away. I'm sorry. You were right, Master, you were right from the beginning. It wasn't safe for Ven out there. I was stupid and I thought I could protect him and now he's gone and it's all my fault. I am no Master. I am a foolish little girl with too much pride."

She could see how hard Eraqus was trying not to show he was angry. She knew he wasn't angry at her, but she was angry enough for two. The minute Vanitas had seen Ventus outside, she should have known he couldn't go outside anymore. But she also knew how it felt to be locked inside this world, how suffocating it was.

"We all make mistakes, Aqua. That's what makes us humans. We have to find Ventus and to bring him back home. Do you know where Vanitas could have taken him?"

"The Keyblades Graveyard. I don't know if that's where they are. But that's where he lives."

"I would like to tell you that we need some preparation before leaving. But we don't have much time to lose, I'm afraid. It is time to go."

Still shaking, Aqua put her armour on. Terra and Eraqus did too. The two men left the kitchen, and Aqua looked a last time at the cake. She felt her heart had been smashed the exact same way. She should be angry at Vanitas, but she was not. She had known for a long time Ventus was Xehanort's target. Vanitas never said anything about staying away from Ven. The same way she could not be angry at Terra when he had tried to kill Vanitas, she could not be angry at Vanitas for kidnapping Ven.

She followed them, and they took off. Destination: The Keyblade Graveyard.

* * *

The place was a desert. Not a desert of sand and of starry skies like Agrabah, but a desert of stone, cloudy sky and dust. She looked at the ground, remembering how he had told her he was had no bed to sleep. Was he sleeping on this rocky, uneven ground? She hoped not. The air was hot, stifling, at every breath she would breath a lot of dust. No wonder he kept his helmet so much.

"Let's split up" offered Eraqus. "Aqua, you go that way. Terra, this way. I will take this road. The first one to spot Ventus blasts a Firaga in the air. We are not here to fight, but to bring Ventus back. Do not fight unless necessary. Are we clear?"

"Yes Master!" They both answered in unison, before following their respective roads.

Using her Glider, Aqua looked carefully everywhere while going as fast as she could. But nothing. The place was empty. Completely empty. She wondered how Vanitas could have lived so long in a place with nothing to to at all.

There! It wasn't much really, but it caught her eye. Some pieces of cloth were folded on a flat rock. There was a coat, and... She recognized the scarf. Some papers were scattered around, like food wraps. Somehow, she knew. This was where he slept. On that rock. Every night. Where he lived. Without a bed. Without a roof. Without anything.

Suddenly, a Firaga lit up the sky. Ven! Someone had found Ven! She jumped on her Glider to find the source of the spell.

The second she saw it, she froze. Was her life on repeat? Was she stuck in an endless loop, fated to see the same thing, again and again?

Vanitas and Terra were fighting. And this time, Terra was winning. At least, that's what she thought, and probably what he thought to, from his victorious face. But then, Vanitas casted a Dark Curaga, and Terra's smile died right away. Of course. He did not know Vanitas could heal himself. He went all out, because he thought Vanitas wouldn't be able to stand up again.

"Surprised, Terra? If you've got any complaint, why don't you ask your precious Aqua how come I can heal?"

Vanitas prepped his weapon. So did Terra. Aqua could not just stand and watch.

She glided all the way to Terra and hugged him.

"Enough... Please."

Vanitas did not slash her, but he knocked her away violently.

"I see you finally made up your mind, Aqua. That was probably the most reasonable choice... Too bad that choice will only get you dead."

With these words, he cast a spell at her, a ball of pure Darkness aimed right at her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost forgot to post it here as well :'D  
> RIP, Cake, [Chapter 22-Chapter 23], you sounded delicious.  
> Also, bad, bad Vanitas, even if you are jealous, you can't just throw dark magic at people you know. That's not very nice.


	24. Darkness

The spell almost knocked Aqua out. She was still conscious, but couldn't move, her mind hazy. It did not even hurt that much either. Nothing was broken, if not her heart.

But the scene in front of her was probably more painful than any broken bone anyway. All she could see was darkness. That cold, familiar Darkness, full of loneliness, but also a new one, full of anger, one she thought she'd never see again. Terra's.

She wanted to call him. To tell him she was fine. To beg him not to hurt Vanitas. That was the reason she had run to him and not to Vanitas in the first place : she knew Vanitas would have stopped his blade, wouldn't have hurt her. Terra would probably have risked hurting her, then healing her afterwards, if that meant defeating Vanitas.

But could she still trust Vanitas? She shouldn't, but she still wanted to have faith in him. She still wanted to see what no one else saw, that goodness, that light that was growing in his heart.

Much to her surprise, Vanitas only dodged Terra's blows now. He would tease him, annoy him, let the Darkness grow bigger and bigger, but he would not attack.

Aqua understood what he was doing the second Master Xehanort appeared. He was dragging a body behind him. Aqua dreadfully realized that was Master Eraqus. Was he... Nonsense. He was strong. He couldn't just die like this.

“Well done, Vanitas, my boy.” The old Master said, and Vanitas jumped away from Terra's attack.

“He's all ready now. He hated me before, but now that I have betrayed and hurt his precious little Aqua... Your vessel is ready.”

“Go and get me the final piece. I think the time has come for this story to unfold.”

Vanitas disappeared through one of his portals. Terra charged after him, but the portal closed before he could reach him.

“Stay put for now, boy.” Xehanort snapped his fingers and threw a binding spell at Terra. The young man fell on the ground, trying to free himself from the spell. Aqua wished he would look at her. She would try to calm him down. But instead, he was looking at the unmoving body of their Master, and the Darkness coming from him grew thicker and thicker.

Vanitas came back dragging Ven. The boy was conscious, but weak. Aqua wanted to run to him, but she couldn't. She couldn't move at all. She suspected Vanitas bound her as well. Was it their favourite spell or something?

“Now, we do have the vessel, and all we need for the X-Blade to be forged. Wake up, Eraqus. It is time to watch your students' demise.”

Eraqus weakly opened his eyes, and Aqua sighed, relieved. He was alive. Hurt, but alive.

“Vanitas... Why?” She was surprised she could talk. The spell was probably wearing off a bit.

“Why?” The boy laughed, a cold and terrifying sound. “Oh, but Aqua, you were so sweet. So kind. You wanted to see a friend in me, and that's what you thought I was. Thanks for the cake and the presents. They were nice. And thanks for teaching me what I was missing to beat Terra. But, more than anything, thanks for bringing Ventus outside! That was the best present you could get me. Did you really think I cared about you? Oh, come on. You should have listened to your beloved Terra. I was created from nothing good, how could you expect anything good to come from me? I took what you were more than happy to give me. Now watch as your teachings will destroy all that you love.”

“We don't need her anymore, Vanitas. Kill her.”

The old Master's words echoed through the whole place. Aqua felt fear for her life for the first time in forever. Vanitas smirked.

“Oh? I thought you said that you wanted a public for your grand finale?”

“Are you trying to disobey my orders? Could it be you don't want her dead?”

Vanitas shrugged.

“Whatever. That was for your ego only. See you around, Aqua.”

And with these final words, he cast a spell she had never seen before. The darkness hit her right in the chest.

The last thing she saw before closing her eyes were two tiny ears twitching behind a rock.

She collapsed with a sad smile on her lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was my poor attempt at killing Eraqus. The man is damn tough, he doesn't want to die!
> 
> The end is pretty near, I'm afraid...
> 
> But I still have so much other projects to post. Not only "Melodies of my heart", updated every other day (if you like songfics, go read them! Aqua is featured in quite a lot of chapters xD Every chapter is telling an independent story, just like the advent calendar), but other stuff as well, some I need to finish writing and some ready to be posted!
> 
> See you on Friday for the final chapters!


	25. Person

Vanitas watched Aqua's head fall to the ground. He couldn't not notice the smile on her lips and he sighed. That girl had been too clever for her own good.

"Now, now, Vanitas, forge the X-Blade! Defeat Ventus! Meanwhile, I shall transfer this heart to my new Vessel!"

Xehanort walked towards Terra, No Name in his hand. Terra struggled, but was still trapped from the spell. Vanitas smirked. He looked like a ridiculous worm.

"At last, our moment is here. Out with the old and brittle vessel, and in with a younger, stronger new one! And now it is your darkness that shall be the ark that sustains me!"

He stabbed his own chest with the blade, and a ball of light escaped his body. Vanitas thought it was funny that such a rotten heart would still emit so much light.

"Vanitas! The X-Blade!"

"Fine, fine" lazily answered Vanitas, taking his eyes off the light floating towards Terra, slowly, incredibly slowly. Terra was probably fighting it, trying to control his Darkness as much as he could. The heart even seemed to consider going to Vanitas instead for a while.

"Ew, don't you even think about it, you gross heart! I've got other plans for my body! Ventus, are you ready to turn into the most powerful weapon blah blah blah nobody cares?"

Ven gave him a defiant look.

"I'm not planning on giving up my life for that stupid plan!"

"My thoughts exactly!"

The two boys, each a half of the same heart, Light and Darkness, took each other's hand, and a wave of pure power blasted from them. Xehanort fell back. Terra was blown away, landing next to Aqua. And the heart, although unfazed by the gust of power, was now floating aimlessly around, before setting its course back to its original vessel.

The old man looked at Vanitas without understanding. The boy took his helmet off and offered his most cruel smile to his Master.

"You betrayed me... How dared you? Do you think they will forgive you? After you killed her?"

Vanitas laughed.

"I'm not doing this for their forgiveness, old man. I'm doing this because she taught me how it felt to be your own person. I'm not going to throw that away for your stupid plan of conquering the world. I'm myself now, I've built my own memories. Some are good. Some are bad. Some I will forget and some I will remember all my life – such as your face right now."

"Xehanort, you thought that by splitting our heart in two, you would be able to forge the X-Blade by reuniting those two parts later." Continued Ventus. "But a heart is something strong. It can grow back. And now, we both have our own heart! Thanks to the love of the people around us, we both are our own person now."

"I wouldn't be as sappy as he is with his  _power of love_  thingy, but yeah, that's the idea. Thank you for bringing us to life, that was awesome. Also, you lost. That's awesome too."

He grinned as Eraqus's keyblade fell down on Xehanort. The old Master staggered as the other one sighed, his face sad and disappointed.

"We were once friends, Xehanort. I would never have thought I would have to defeat you one day. But it's over now."

Xehanort fell to his knees, his hand reaching out to Vanitas.

"I raised you... And this is how you thank me...?"

"I've never been good at being grateful anyway. But you are a terrible father."

Xehanort let his final breath out. Soon, his body vanished, and his heart rose in the sky until they couldn't see it.

"Ventus?"

"Yes?"

"I'm pretty sure you can let go of my hand now."

"Oh. Yes. Sorry."

Terra groaned and the two boys suddenly remembered what was surrounding them. Vanitas took a step forward, then backward. Ventus grinned and pushed him in the back.

"I'll check on Terra. Go and check on Aqua. I suppose she's not really dead?"

"Did she turn into a cloud of pure light and vanished? No, I just threw a Sleep spell at her. And... thanks."

Ventus winked at him before running to Terra, Vanitas followed him, his own steps taking him to Aqua. He kneeled by her side.

Memo was already gently patting her face with her flappy ears, and Aqua was slowly waking up.

She opened her eyes and stared at Vanitas. And, suddenly, he was at a loss for words. He did not know what to tell her. How could he find anything to say after he betrayed her so much? What he had told Xehanort was true : none of what he did had been for forgiveness. He wasn't expecting that much anyway.

"Vanitas? Is that you?"

He stared at the ground. He couldn't face her. His hands were shaking.

"But then... The X-Blade? What did you... What happened?"

He closed his eyes, silent. His voice wouldn't respond. He couldn't answer.

"Let me tell you what happened, Aqua." Ven's cheerful voice answered in his stead. "After he kidnapped me, Vanitas told me about Master Xehanort's plan. He wanted to bring us all here. Vanitas's betrayal was meant to harm you, and therefore to bring Terra to an enormous rage. Vanitas would have to fight Terra to increase his rage, and they expected you to witness the fight and try to stop them. Xehanort wanted Vanitas to kill you as you stopped them, but he did not. He covered a binding spell with some darkness to look like he had casted something terrible on you. That would bring Terra to the ultimate anger, giving way to the Darkness within him and turn into the perfect vessel. However, Vanitas did not want to forge the X-Blade anymore. He told me you taught him to value his own life. He's been trying to figure out a plan to defeat Xehanort for a while, but for that, he needed to pretend he'd been using you the whole time. You couldn't know. Nobody could know, until the very end. The only moment where Xehanort would lower his guard would be when he was sure of winning. And until then, Vanitas would have to pretend he was on his side."

"Vanitas, is that true?"

"If I had to choose between an old geezer who'd slash me whenever he could and only thought of me as a tool, and someone who gave me cake and probably cared about me more than I did, who do you think I'd chose?"

Aqua threw her arms around him.

"I knew it. I knew. Everything we've lived through, that couldn't be a lie! I've seen you smile, and that never looked fake. I'm so glad, I'm so so happy."

She kissed him on both cheeks, laughing, ecstatic.

"Also, you are a terrible liar, Vanitas. Xehanort might not have noticed, but did you really think I would miss that?"

He looked at her. What did she mean?

"Your helmet! Vanitas, whenever you lied, you would have your helmet on. You didn't want to meet my eyes. I wasn't sure, of course, but when you threw me that spell and I saw Memo hiding over there... She is the connection between us two. She comforted me in my idea that you wouldn't betray my trust. Thank you so much."

Losing his words again, but for another reason now, he simply hugged her back, his heart throbbing in his chest. She always trusted him. She never lost faith, even after all he did. He tripped her over and over, and she kept on getting back on her feet. He chuckled.

"You are so hopeless, Aqua."

"I am. But that's because I'm surrounded by hopeless people, I'm afraid. But you, Vanitas, aren't hopeless. There is still so much hope left for you. You'd better not think of running away, because you have a training to complete, and I'll make sure you do."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Epilogue is coming as well <3


	26. Epilogue

Epilogue. Master Aqua.

Vanitas was pacing the floor, waiting in the library, trying to breathe as calmly as he could. Which was to say, he was actually just panicking. He had not set foot in the Land of Departure for a while now, and the place always made him a bit nervous. Of course, that wasn't the only reason he had to be nervous.

The door next to him opened in a creaking sound, and Ventus's head showed up.

"Vanitas, it will soon begin. Oh, are you stressed? Don't you worry, it's not like you're getting married or anything!"

Vanitas gave him the coldest look he could muster. "Do you find this funny, Ventus?"

"Quite so, yeah." Vanitas threw a book at his face, but Ven dodged it with a laugh. "Come on. Aqua said there would be some cake afterwards. Oh, and one last thing... Are you sure you wanna go dressed up like that?"

Vanitas glanced at his outfit with a smirk. It was true that since his training had properly started he had stopped wearing his dark suit. "I thought she'd like that."

"Terra won't."

"Terra doesn't like anything I do anyway."

"True that. Come on, you don't want to be late!"

Vanitas followed Ventus through corridors and corridors, until they reached the main hall. There were three chairs at the front of the hall. Aqua was sitting in the middle one, her legs crossed in a relaxed posture. Terra was sitting in the right-hand one, his back so straight Vanitas had to stop all the naughty jokes that came to his mind from escaping his lips. Ventus ran into the left-hand one, crouching on it more than properly sitting.

"Come forward, Vanitas." called Aqua, and he obeyed. He could see Terra's judgemental glare at his outfit and could not hide his grin. Aqua did not react at all.

"This hall was gracefully lent by Master Terra here. Master Ventus also honours us by his presence here. This Mark of Mastery Exam is but a test of the condition of your heart, Vanitas. Your role as a Master is to keep the balance between Light, and Darkness. I do not believe a world of Light can exist without its Darkness. I do not believe either that a heart that has the strength to show proof of controlling both Light and Dark should be deemed as unfit for it has Darkness within it.

Vanitas, you have trained under my care for those five last years. What I want to see here is control. You are free to use light or darkness, but I want to be sure you are the one controlling it, and not the other way around. Prove me your training was worth it."

"Yes Master!"

"Now, let's begin. The test will be a fight. This is not about winning or losing. Please keep that in mind. Ventus, if you will..."

Ventus jumped on his feet, his keyblade in hand. "I've been waiting for this for so long! I won't hold back, Vanitas. Let me show you the strength of an actual Master. I hope you're not too mad I've already been a Master for two years, uh?"

Vanitas sighed and ignored Ventus, looking at Aqua instead.

"Master Aqua, are you sure this is a good idea? Isn't there a risk we'd forge the X-Blade or something? Can't I fight Terra instead?"

"It's  _Master_  Terra for you." snarled Terra.

"It's all about control, isn't it? Don't try to kill Ventus and all will be fine. Now, fight!"

Ventus was fast. Faster than Terra, faster than Aqua, and even faster than Vanitas. And Vanitas was losing. He summoned the Darkness within him, and four thornbites appeared, lashing their vines and wrapping them around Ven's arms and legs so that he couldn't move. An Archraven sat on the blonde head. Vanitas crossed his arms, victorious.

"End of the fight! Well done, both of you. Vanitas, would you mind...?"

"I don't know. I think my Unversed like him. They just want to hug him, that's all!"

"Vanitas, please."

With a sigh, he absorbed the Unversed back. He winced, as he always did whenever he had to summon his minions back.

"Please go back to the library, while we discuss about your results. We will call you once we made up our minds."

"And please change your clothes! This is something official, Vanitas!" Vanitas gave a bright smile at Terra as he left the room.

While waiting, he took off his dark suit (really, he just kind of summoned it back, his casual clothes being under it), and turned back to a red-and-black shirt, black trousers and red belts. He was pretty confident, but when Ven's head popped up again to call him back, with a sorry look on his face, the stress was back.

Was it something he did wrong? Shouldn't he have used Unversed? Had wearing the suit actually been that bad? Was it just Terra who strongly argued against it?

"Vanitas. Master Terra, Master Ventus and myself have discussed of your future. It has been unprecedented to have a student who would use darkness as an actual way of fighting. Some might also fear your sometimes immature attitude is not that of a Master. But you also have shown strength, mercy, and control. With all these elements in mind, we came to the conclusion..."

Aqua stopped and his heart did too. Her face did not let any expression through. Ventus was looking a bit sad, and Terra was trying to hide his smile. Vanitas shoulders collapsed.

"You are fit to become a Master. This was unanimous. Raise your head, Master Vanitas. Stand proud. You now have a great role to play in the peace of the worlds."

He looked at them, stunned. Ventus's sad look turned into a grin. Terra's half smile turned into a full, happy smile.

"I what?"

But above all of that, Aqua's proud eyes made his heart jump. She was doing her best to stay formal and not run into his arms, he could see that.

"I still don't like you very much, Vanitas. But I don't think your poor attitude makes you someone bad. You have proven that Darkness can be used for good. But don't you think I won't keep an eye on you, though."

"Well done, Vanitas! I'm still two years ahead of you, though. Please keep on calling me Master, I love that."

"You've grown so much." finally said Aqua as her fingers brushed his cheek. "I am proud I have been your Master for all this time."

"Thank you, Master Ventus, Master Terra, Master Aqua. I shall show myself worthy of such a title. However, Master Aqua, there is something else I would like to ask you, if that's fine with you?"

Surprised, she nodded as Ventus and Terra exchanged a grin. Vanitas only told Ven, but it was no surprise he'd tell Terra.

Vanitas kneeled and whistled. Memo came, hopping her way to his side.

"I am honoured to have been your student for those five years. I will always hold dearly those memories of you as my Master, even though we shall now stand equals. However..."

Memo unfolded one of her ears, and revealed a tiny box, that she opened with her second ear.

"Now that you are not my Master and I am not your student anymore, would you be my wife instead?"

Aqua's face went all blank, then flushed.

"I... Yes. Yes, I do. Oh my, of course I do!"

Vanitas took the ring from the box and slid it onto Aqua's finger, before cupping her head in his hands and kissing her. She wrapped her arms around him, not letting him go.

Today marked the sixth year since they became friends, and so much had changed since then.

"Uh, guys, I'm really glad for you and everything, but wasn't there some cake?"

"VENTUS!" They all screamed in unison before bursting into laughter.

Some things sure had changed in those six years. But some other things would never change.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finishing writing a story is always such a strange feeling. But now, I'm finishing posting it, and that's a weird feeling too. That "Secret Place" doc I have on my computer might never be opened again. I won't receive much more reviews about it, as this story will slowly disappear into the countless pages of this site. Secret Place is one of the biggest fanfic I've ever written, and when I started it, my goal was to make a couple of drabbles about Aqua and Vanitas becoming friends and staring at the stars. They have grown so much. Vanitas became kinder, softer. And I don't know if you noticed, but Aqua turned a bit darker too. They both had a huge influence on one another.
> 
> Thank you for your support for these three previous months. I never expected this story would go this far, and yet it did. Thanks to all that reviewed, all that read, but I would like to thank personally SaphirActar and Taliax because you really are what gives me motivation to write even more right now. And I could never thank you enough, Taliax, for that cover you drew. Thank you so much.
> 
> When I started this fic, and long after I started writing it, I didn't know whether that would be some TerrAqua or some VanQua (Terra fought well in my heart believe me), but I wanted this chapter to happen, I wanted Vanitas to become a Master. Of course, in the SP timeline, there was no way he'd turn into one, unless a few years went by.
> 
> Once again, thanks for your support! I've wrote other VanQua & TerrAqua fics, some you will find in the prompts or the songfics (24 Hearts & Melodies of my heart) and some that will be coming later (I've set up a posting calendar and you are so not done with me...). I'll try to keep my profile updated with the dates of the coming fics, to check that out from time to time!
> 
> Thank you guys, I really love you all a lot (especially you who read the author notes even when they are boring) and see you for the next fic!


	27. Valentine's Special

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Valentine's day! Whether your spending it with you significant other, your friends, your family, or on your own (that's my plan for today), whether you still believe in the magic of it or just think this is a commercial day, I wish you a happy day. And a happy week. You know what? I wish you a happy life. Here.
> 
> I was wondering whether I should post it as a special chapter or as a whole fic, but posting it on its own would have spoiled Secret Place to newcomers. I hope it surprised the ones who were following SP and didn't expect anything new :D

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue : A Valentine's Special chapter

"You may now kiss the bride."

It was pretty obvious it took the groom all the self-control in the worlds to give the bride a soft, decent kiss instead of an hungry one.

The few people around cheered. Actually, Ventus and Mickey cheered. Terra let out a soft chuckle, Yen Sid sighed and Eraqus frowned. As of Vanitas and Aqua… Well, they were busy being the ones kissing.

"Vanitas, we're actually married. For real." Aqua's cheeks were red and her eyes were sparkling.

"A marriage between Light and Darkness. Isn't it beautiful?" He smirked, his arms around her waist.

"I wouldn't say you're that _dark_ anymore." She noted.

"I wouldn't say you're that _light_ anymore. No, seriously, did you put on some weight lately?" Aqua pretended to frown, but her eyes were laughing. "Don't you worry, I will love you even if you get fat."

"You know", whispered Terra, loud enough for both of them to hear, "we can still make the marriage paper disappear and pretend it never happened. I volunteer to hide his body if you need."

Aqua laughed. "Enough, both of you. I accepted to marry him and I knew what it implied. Don't you worry. But since you are so worried about my weight, Vanitas, perhaps we should eat only greens for a week?"

"Whaaat? No, everything but that! You don't even look fat! I was kidding! Please?"

"Speaking of food…" smiled Ventus, and Aqua ruffled his hair.

"You're right. I would be rude not to feed our guests!"

While the ceremony had taken place in the Exam Hall (Aqua couldn't see a better place than the Land of Departure for the ceremony), they had set up a table in the gardens for the meal. It was a round table, as Aqua had insisted that they should all stand (or sit) equals. Of course, Aqua and Vanitas were sitting next to each other, with Ventus on Vanitas's left hand side and Terra on Aqua's right hand side. Eraqus sat on the other side of Terra, Yen Sid was sitting next to his old friend, and Mickey closed the circle, between his own Master and Ventus.

"Um, before we actually start eating, I'd like to say a few words, if that's okay?" Aqua frowned at Vanitas's sly face. He was up to no good. That she could feel. He took her hand and put a kiss on her ring, a delicate silver ring with two shining stones, a ruby and a sapphire. He then showed the hand to Terra with a smirk.

"Hey, loser, guess _who_ put a ring on it? Hint: not you."

Aqua gently smacked the back of his head.

"Vanitas, you promised to behave."

With a satisfied grin, he sat back, while Terra was probably trying to kill him with his stare.

"I'm sorry, Terra. He promised. I thought he would…"

"This is easily explained, given his poor education." Hissed Eraqus.

"Master, you promised to behave too." Reminded Aqua.

She knew her Master disliked Vanitas. It had been no secret. Even after these five years of the boy training under Aqua's supervision, even when their feelings had been obvious, Eraqus's hate had always been there. He was now a retired Master, and Terra took his succession, but he still lived in the Land of Departure, and Vanitas had not been allowed on these lands before his Mark of Mastery exam six months ago.

"And… thanks again. For agreeing to be the one… To marry us. It meant a lot to me."

He had accepted to marry them out of his love for Aqua, and had promised to act decently for the ceremony, but Aqua knew how much it cost him.

"That was the least I could do for you, my child." He hid his pain behind a loving smile, and she smiled back.

Meanwhile, Ven and Vanitas had started to argue over whether melon was to be served as a starter or as a dessert.

"Aqua, tell that moron it's meant to be eaten first!"

"No way! Aqua, would you mind correcting your _husband_ about that?"

_Husband_. That was right. Vanitas was her husband now. She giggled, ignoring their argument and taking the hand of her _husband_.

"You're gorgeous." He whispered to her. Compliments from him were very rare, and that made them even more precious.

"You look stunning in a suit too. You should wear some more often."

"If you like the suit, wait until there's no suit anymore…" He smirked.

"OKAY OKAY NOW", yelled Ventus, his face bright red as he heard Vanitas. "Before we start eating, there is something I need to give you, Aqua."

"To me? What is it?"

"Terra told me to find something old, and something blue. Well, I found an old blue thing, so that counts, right?"

When she was younger, Aqua had read in a book about a wedding tradition, where the bride needed something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue as a good omen. Back then, when she imagined her wedding, Terra was the one who'd come to her mind as the groom… But since then, Vanitas entered her life, and things had changed a lot.

Before the ceremony, Terra surprised her by lending her his Wayfinder - he had added a delicate silver chain so that she could wear it as a necklace. There was the borrowed thing.

"An old blue thing? What could it be?"

Everyone fell silent, curious about that mysterious present. Ventus took from under the table a blue notebook. It didn't look that old, but it was probably a few years old.

"I was cleaning up the attic last month and I found that. I thought the two of you might want to have a look at it."

_The attic. Oh. No._

Aqua's face turned all blank, then all red. Vanitas didn't miss that.

"Everything alright?"

"Ventus. Burn this. Right now."

But Vanitas eventually snatched it before Ventus could react. Terra, recognizing the book, laughed.

"I'd never thought we'd see yours again, Aqua."

"This… No. Vanitas, give that back. Please. It's… It's really embarrassing. Please."

Her _husband_ (oh, she liked that word so much, even though she wanted to strangle him right now) had already opened the book to page one.

" _Aqua's Apology book._ Woah, your writing is terrible! Were you holding the pen between your teeth or something?"

"An Apology Book? What is that?" innocently asked Mickey, under Terra's hilarity.

"When we were kids, we both had to write down apologies to the other if we did something wrong, as well as a compliment, then read it out loud."

"Terra, I wouldn't laugh so much if I were you. Unless you want me to recite what was in yours."

He winked at her. "I've come to accept that I was an idiot and I'm totally fine with what was in mine. Are you?"

They heard Vanitas gasping and stopped bickering, looking at him.

"Listen, Vanitas, whatever you read, I was a kid, okay? I've changed, since then. Don't judge me."

" _March 24th. I'm sorry I hurt Terra by telling him my books were a better company._ Ah, I feel you, man, I mean, she told me that too, once… That her books were a better company than _you_."

Although Terra pretended to be angry, Aqua noticed he wasn't really. Actually, he seemed to be having some fun. She tried to relax, her fingers locked with Vanitas's.

"Ventus, the tradition is supposed to bring happiness. If that breaks my couple…"

"Oh, it won't, I will just tease you with that forever."

"Oh, this one is priceless!" Vanitas exclaimed, turning the pages. " _November 15th. I'm sorry I risked Terra's life, simply because I did not want to give him a book and tried to send him away._ Aqua, did you really almost killed Terra for a book? I've married a psycho."

"I told you I was a child!"

"A psychotic one." nodded Terra. "Her love for books was almost indecent."

"Terra! You're not helping me! You should be!"

He smiled and put a kiss on her cheek. "That's my vengeance for choosing him over me."

She pouted. "You're not fair."

"What's next, what's next?" sang Ventus, excited. Aqua sighed. She was sure he had read it several times already.

Vanitas read an entry in silence, then gave a pitiful look at Terra. "I'm sorry I've been so much of a jerk to you, Terra. Now I understand. You've had a terrible childhood, and that's why you're so dumb now. It's the trauma, isn't it?"

"Which one is it? Let's get done with that so that we can eat in peace. Please."

" _I'm sorry I pushed Terra on the stairs and broke his leg._ I'm starting to think you are even more monstrous than I've ever been, Aqua. I'm impressed."

"It's not what you think! I didn't push him on purpose! Tell him, Terra! Oh wait no, I don't trust you anymore. Master, tell him!"

Eraqus massaged his temples, as if trying to remember when that was. "If I remember correctly… You two were sword fighting, wasn't it?"

Vanitas raised an eyebrow. "Sword fighting on the top of stairs? Well, that's a clever one."

"Can you put the book down now, please?"

"No way, I'm just discovering your hidden personality!"

Vanitas scoured the pages. "So, you almost froze Terra to death, almost drowned him… Aqua, this isn't an Apology Book. This is a murder book. This would be a villain's Holy Book."

Aqua turned her head, her cheeks bright red. "Go on, make fun of me. I grew up, since then. I turned into someone decent."

She felt Vanitas's fingers grab her chin, turning her head back to him.

"Honestly, I'd love to see that psycho Aqua too. She sounded like a fun kid to hang out with."

"So you don't think I was a scary kid?"

He laughed. "Just to be sure, you know who you're talking to, right?"

She looked at him for a minute and relaxed, smiling. "Yes. Sorry. I've just been doing everything I could to always be kind and helpful that I… I don't want people to hear about who I was."

"Actually, you sounded cool!" suddenly said Ventus. "You childhood seemed to be a lot of fun, lots of adventures. I wish I knew what kind of childhood I had!"

Ven and Vanitas exchanged a meaningful look.

"And I'm sure Terra deserved all of what you did to him." Added Vanitas, flashing a smirk at Terra.

"You're sure I can't murder him?" Asked calmly Aqua's best friend.

"Certain. Now can we please start eating? I'm starving!"

"There's still the _Something New_ missing." noted Eraqus. "This was my duty to find."

Aqua tilted her head, surprised.

"Really, all of you, you didn't have to… I told you it would be a simple ceremony, between friends. Nothing fancy, no presents, nothing. I just wanted to see you all."

Eraqus smiled and got up. He put a small box on the table, between Aqua and Vanitas.

"Hey, you can't propose to my wife! Oh, wow. _Wife._ That's a strange word. I gotta get used to it."

"Just open the damn box and shut your damn mouth." Sighed Terra.

"Terra, your language, please!"

"Given who you just married, I don't think my language should trouble you that much, Aqua. Come on, open it!"

With a trembling hand, Aqua took the box and opened it. In it, there was a golden, shiny thing.

"Master, this is…"

"That's a key." stated blandly Vanitas, taking it in his hand. "The shape's a bit weird. Quite small for a keyblade, if you want my opinion. Won't open many keyholes."

"Actually, it won't open any but one. This is the key of a house. A very cosy house in a peaceful world, that once had been destroyed, but is now restored."

"Aqua, what's wrong?" Vanitas was suddenly alarmed, seeing Aqua started crying. "Is there something I'm missing here?"

"Master, is this key… What I think it is?"

"I know this could be difficult. You don't have to accept this gift. It is completely up to you. But over there, there are several people who appear to have a natural gift for magic… And I think they might need a teacher."

Aqua jumped out of her seat and ran into her Master's arms. "This is wonderful. Thank you. Thank you so much."

If Terra was apparently into the secret, Ventus seemed to be as lost as Vanitas.

"What does this key open?"

Aqua sat back to her seat, taking Vanitas's hand.

"Master Eraqus is giving us a new home. A new home… In my birthworld. I haven't been there in twenty years."

Vanitas's birthworld had been the Keyblade Graveyard, and he would hardly jump of joy if someone sent him back there. But seeing how happy Aqua was, he knew that was different. He knew it meant a lot to her. She was happy, so so was he.

"Thanks, old pineapple man. We'll make sure to invite you over. Sometimes."

"Just because I gave you that key doesn't mean I do appreciate you, Vanitas. Remember that."

"One of my best memories of you was when you tried to cut my throat. No worries, I remember you don't like me. Hey, I know, you should write an apology book too, about all the times you tried to kill me!"

"Aqua might have forgiven you for all the darkness you threw on the worlds, but I…"

"ENOUGH!" Yelled Aqua. "This is MY wedding and we are going to have MELON as a starter and we will have it NOW so STOP FIGHTING. Am I clear?"

"Ha, so that's a starter! In your face, Ven!"

"Vanitas, shut your bloody mouth or I ask for divorce right now."

It was only then that he noticed how exhausted she actually was - she had pretended to be fine all along, but the thought of going back to her birthplace broke down her mask. He couldn't blame her, though, he too had been too nervous to sleep the night before.

"Aqua?"

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have… I'm just tired. And hungry. And I want everyone to have a good time."

"I wasn't going to blame you for anything."

"So what were you going to do?"

He smiled, cupping her head in his hands, ignoring everyone around.

"I just wanted to tell you that you're even sexier when you're angry."

He felt her relax a bit as she chuckled. "You're stupid."

"I know. That might be why I married you."

He brought her face closer and softly kissed her.

"But I think it take an idiot to marry an idiot, so welcome to the idiot family, Mrs Vanitas."

She smiled and kissed him back, her eyes closed, not seeing her husband showing his middle finger to Terra.

But quite frankly? It was the happiest day of her life, and she probably wouldn't have cared much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's so weird to think that Vanitas is now a husband... A HUSBAND! (and in this fic he's probably still younger than me even though that's 5 years later, and here I am, married to my bed hahaha)
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this surprise! Some more teaser for the Apology Book I guess x'D Also this chapter was pretty useful to indicate that Eraqus was still alive. (unfortunately).  
> [Also that brings a very important question : would you eat melon as a starter, as a dessert, or wouldn't you eat melon at all?]
> 
> Anyway, wait for the 15th for discount chocolates and have a lovely time! (and once again thank you for having read all this fic, love you guys!)


End file.
